When on July 13 of the current (2012) year
I brought on Habrahabr the list of winners of the competition for the right to obtain a license to provide communication services in LTE networks,
at first glance this list consisted of four points: Rostelecom, Mobile TeleSystems, MegaFon , VimpelCom.
For most of Russia, this is indeed true.
But on the same day,
zhnikita specified , referring
to the Rostelecom website , that Krasnodar Krai is an exception: since Rostelecom
and MegaFon are general partners of the XXII Olympic Winter Games and the XI Paralympic Games of 2014 in Sochi, the other two winners of
LTE- of the competition will be required to stop the provision of LTE communication services from October 1, 2012 to December 31, 2014
throughout the Krasnodar Territory.Rate scope, gentlemen readers. In the name of the Olympics, taking place in the city of Sochi and its surroundings, there is a twofold decrease in the number of competitors in the
LTE services market
in the whole region -
for ≈5.3 million of its inhabitants, in the space of ≈75.5 thousand km², some points of which are separated from Sochi even further than three and a half hundreds of kilometers.
')
We all, now twenty years old living under capitalism, need not explain that reducing competition automatically means rising prices, sometimes even frantic growth, so the LTE standard for the next few years risks becoming a kind of luxury in Krasnodar Krai rather than a file transfer tool.
Fortunately, today (September 14, 2012) there appeared the first hint that the corresponding decision of the SCRF is not completely unshakable. I'm talking about the article “
Private soldiers are attached to the general ones ” (with the subtitle
“U“ MegaFon ” and“ Rostelecom ” got competitors in Sochi”)
from “Kommersant” No. 172 (4957).It is enough to look intently at this newspaper
article - and a close peering will easily find in it two news: good and bad.
The bad news is: Kommersant writes that the decision of the GKRCh of March 16, 2012 contains in the interests of Rostelecom
and MegaFon a direct ban on assigning radio frequencies or radio frequency channels in the Krasnodar Territory of MTS, VimpelCom and other market participants December 31, 2014 (that is, until the end of the year of the Olympic Games, which would
somehow have seemed justified), and right up to December 31,
2016 - that is, for another couple of years into the future. What a cruel blow, gentlemen! And the number “2016” is
repeated in the article “Kommersant”, which does not make it possible to consider it a mere typo. (On the other hand, it’s still not very clear why, then, Rostelecom itself on the page that
zhnikita pointed to leads more modest terms.)
The good news is this: “Kommersant” writes that the SCRF intends to gather on October 2, 2012 for a meeting and consider the complaint of an unnamed company to the aforementioned March decision. Perhaps the duopoly position of Rostelecom
and MegaFon will be somewhat shaken.
However, is it enough of this alone to hope - judge for yourself.
Appendage. One of the readers sent me a hyperlink leading directly to the decision of the SCRF of March 16, 2012
No. 12-14-03 "
On the use of the radio frequency spectrum during the organization and holding of the XXII Olympic Winter Games and the XI Paralympic Winter Games of 2014 in the city of Sochi ", found
in the list of decisions of GKRCH . And what? This decision really guarantees the duopoly of Rostelecom
and MegaFon until December 31,
2016 — that is, for the next 4¼ years, and even, in particular, for two years
after the Olympic Games! This means that only in 2017 (and not even later, due to market inertia), LTE prices in the Krasnodar Territory will approach those established in the rest of Russia by the competition of a larger number of suppliers.
The second appendage. This reader
( zajac ), previously registered at Habrahabr in
read only mode
, now received an invitation from me (invite), which allows me to participate in Habrahabr in full mode, leaving comments, answering questions,
and so on.