The State Duma may cancel national roaming in October. Telecom operators against

Photo: Oleg Kharseev / Kommersant

The idea of ​​abolishing national roaming, which the legislators vigorously discussed a few months ago, became relevant again. The State Duma plans to discuss the relevant amendments to the law "On Communications" in October this year. At the same time, cellular operators claim that there are very few subscribers who use intranet roaming, Kommersant reports . In the opinion of the companies, if roaming is canceled, the tariffs for communication will increase.

The issue should be resolved on October 23; it is on this date that the first reading of the amendment to the Law on Communication, which was introduced back in October 2012 by a group of deputies, is planned. In the latest version of the amendments, it was intended to supplement the relevant law with the concepts of “home region” and “region of stay”. In the case of a subscriber relocation outside the home region, the operator was obliged to charge services to the subscriber at rates that were valid in the “region of stay”. At the same time, the charge for incoming calls from any other regions cannot exceed the cost of an outgoing call from the home region to local subscribers in the region where the subscriber is located.

The amendments were originally supposed to be introduced into work on March 1, 2014, but their consideration was postponed. “The idea was supported by the Minister of Communications Nikolai Nikiforov, but a pause was taken, because operators under pressure launched tariffs that reduce costs in intranet roaming,” said State Duma deputy Yaroslav Nilov, author of the amendments to the Law on Communications.
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As for the various departments of the country, some of them support this bill. “Operators have costs, we have been proposing to reduce them for a long time by changing the principles of settlements between companies, but so far this has not happened,” says Elena Zayeva, deputy head of the department for the control of transport and communications at FAS.

As for representatives of telecom operators, some companies are against the adoption of such a bill. “Amendments can make life difficult for both the operator and the subscriber. If a subscriber travels to Moscow through several regions, when the region changes, he will have a new tariff, and it’s not clear which one, ”the press secretary of T2 RTK Holding (Tele2), Irina Rybakova, comments on the situation.