Cellular operators will notify subscribers about changes to the tariff plan via SMS

On Habré there are a lot of stories about how the mobile operator (hereinafter - the Operator) changed the tariff plan to a new one or simply increased the prices for SMS / calls / Mobile Internet. All Russian operators, without exception, are seen in this. Currently, operators are required to report such things in the media, so they register their sites as media and publish them on the site 10 days before the change. Formally, the law is observed, but hardly anyone monitors the sites of telecom operators on a daily basis. Very soon, this situation should change.

The main change is in the title, for details I ask under the cat.

The amendments relate to the “Rules for the provision of mobile communication services” (hereinafter referred to as the Rules), which have been in effect since May 25, 2005, with only one significant revision for 7 years (about “free incoming calls”). There is a draft of the Rules of six months old, as well as references in the Russian newspaper and on the website of the Ministry of Communications about the latest changes. Also on TV slipped discussion of changes. Since I didn’t find anything on Habré, I decided to publish here the main changes to the Rules.

Major changes

• The basic concepts of the Rules are added to avoid discrepancies (for example, the concept of "roaming" is defined)
• Cancel payment for changing the TP (in this case, the TP may provide for a fee for providing access to the network)
• Units of tariffing are chosen by the Operator, but not more than 1 minute (and at least 1 second, at least 20 seconds, or at least 60 seconds)
• Connections up to 3 sec. inclusively not charged (starting from the moment of the subscriber’s response, or from the time of the signal equivalent to the subscriber’s response (modem, caller ID, answering machine, etc.))
• Financial operations with the Operator (invoicing, payment methods, etc.) are described in detail.
• Termination of the Agreement with the subscriber in case of non-use of communication services for more than 6 months in a row (if the subscriber did not agree to a longer break with the Operator)
• The opportunity to receive information about the services provided, the status of payments for them, order account details, change the composition of communication services and tariff plans using the operator’s website on the Internet (i.e., if the Operator did not provide these services before, he now has to do)
• The duty of the Operator is defined to warn subscribers who have gone beyond the limits of their home network about roaming pricing and current tariffs free of charge, by sending SMS
• Notification of subscribers about changes in their tariff plan via SMS for 10 days

The changes they write about, but in the old version I haven’t found this

• When renting short numbers by Operators, require the organizers of the shares to indicate the cost of the SMS (including “like” shares of Operators from the category “Send SMS - win a million”)
• The possibility of the subscriber’s refusal to pay for services that he did not explicitly connect, or that went "into the load" to other options
• At the request of the subscriber, the Operator is obliged to turn off the Internet in roaming
• The procedure and conditions for the conclusion of an agreement by dealers are tightened.
• The operator will not be able to take money from the subscriber for providing call detail if he does not do it too often.
• In each subject of the federation, any operator must have at least one second tariff and at least one tariff with a tariffing interval in roaming no more than 10 seconds

There is not a lot of revolutionary, many changes only legislatively fix the order of actions of Operators, which has already been established on the market. The introduction of new and clarification of old definitions, a detailed description of the procedure for notifications, billing, payment, etc., all this, as reported by the Ministry of Communications, will help the subscriber in case of legal proceedings with the Operator.
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A detailed analysis of the changes to the new Rules makes no sense until they are approved by the Government of the Russian Federation and the official text of the resolution is published. But the main provisions, apparently, will remain unchanged.

At present, the draft Rules have been agreed upon by the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia, the Federal Security Service of Russia, the Federal Tariff Service of Russia, the Emergencies Ministry of Russia, and the Ministry of Defense of Russia. In the near future, it is expected to receive the opinion of Rospotrebnadzor and the conclusion of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia with an assessment of the regulatory impact.

It should be noted that the draft Rules of July 2011 introduced such a thing as "identification module" (Apparently, it means NFC? Tell me). In general, a service fee through such a module is paid by the subscriber only to its operator (i.e. it is debited from the account). It is not known whether this concept remains in the last edition, but I think that we will soon find out about it.

Links

A round table on the topic “New edition of the Rules for the provision of mobile communication services” will be held on February 10 at the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media
Russian Newspaper "The Ministry of Communications prepared new rules for mobile operators"
Draft Resolution (July)
Draft Regulation (June)
I drew the picture, I can not draw myself.

PS I hope that the new Rules will help to avoid similar stories.