Russia is preparing for a radical revision of mobile operators’ tariffs: the cost is planned to increase tenfold
The Russian government plans to raise the cost of mobile operators’ tariffs 10 times to raise an additional 20 billion rubles to the budget.
This was reported by The Moscow Times.
It is noted that the Ministry of Digital Transformation is preparing to approve a new methodology for calculating fees for frequencies for 2024, excluding discounts for operators for the use of frequencies for 4G (LTE). Before that, the government had stimulated the introduction of the promising technology, but now the spectrum fee for fast mobile Internet can increase 10 times.
The publication adds that this will help to raise an additional 20 billion rubles to the budget. A representative of Russian government agencies said that the government needed the funds to implement social projects in the communications sector, including connecting small towns to the Internet.
According to the new methodology, operators will pay about 1% of their revenues for frequencies, according to Konstantin Ankilov, CEO of TMT Consulting. This growth is not catastrophic, but it will be a reason to raise mobile tariffs. Thus, all costs will be passed on to subscribers, the expert noted.
- On October 9, it became known that the Dutch holding Veon no longer owns Russia’s VimpelCom (Beeline brand). The company that owns Kyivstar has sold its assets.
