The Ministry of Economic Development proposes to use the funds of the communication services fund to support the Yarovaya package

The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade made a proposal to “compensate” a part of the costs of telecom operators for the implementation of the norms of the package of antiterrorist laws of Yarovaya-Ozerov at the expense of the fund of communication services, according to Vedomosti. The piquancy of the situation is added by the fact that the fund is formed by deducting 1.2% of the annual revenue of the telecom operators themselves. In fact, the Ministry of Economic Development proposes to return this money to operators.

Previously, the fund’s resources caused a mini-conflict between the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Communications and Mass Communications: the latter proposed to use the fund’s money to create the GIS “Internet” system , while the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade opposed the embezzlement of the fund.

According to Vedomosti, the latest activity of various ministries and departments around the implementation of the Yarovaya-Ozerov package, in addition to the fact that in the summer of 2016, when signing the law, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to provide telecom operators with the necessary financial support from taking into account the need to prevent the growth of tariffs for communication services above the level of inflation ”.
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Information about this order appeared on the official portal of legal information: the document was referred to by the Ministry of Communications in the discussion of regulations for the Yarova amendments. By Monday evening, all statements of the department with links to the presidential instructions were removed from the portal.

Problems with the financing of telecommunications projects of the state are systemic in nature, and the scandalous package of antiterrorist laws is another increase in the financial burden on the budget and business, which only aggravates the overall situation.

This Saturday on Geektimes they reported on Rostelecom investments in the modernization of copper communication lines. As it turned out, the return to the modernization of the aging infrastructure of the state monopolist is still directly connected with the current battles between the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Communications and Mass Communications.

Rostelecom resumed modernization of copper communication lines, launched in the early 2010s and interrupted in 2012 in favor of pulling GPON fiber-optic networks, due to serious customer outflows (Rostelecom’s customer base decreased by 8% in 2016) .

Obviously, the “optics” are not stretching as fast as we would like, but here the state corporation has obligations to the state: between 2013 and Rostelecom, the government signed a contract to implement the program for eliminating digital inequality in Russia, according to which the monopolist pledged to extend 200,000 km of optical fiber and provide Internet access at a speed of at least 10 Mbit / s in all localities of the country with a population of 250-500 people (subject to the availability of a payphone, i.e. a previously laid communication line). This program was actively financed not only at the expense of budget funds and Rostelecom funds, but also at the expense of commercial telecom operators through the communications services fund , to which operators deduct 1.2% of their annual revenue.

It should be noted that Rostelecom already received almost half of the funds previously promised to it for modernization from the fund: instead of 14.8 billion, only 7.9 billion rubles were transferred.

That is, when the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Communications argue among themselves where to put the fund's money (on the GIS “Internet” or return it to operators for partial reimbursement of expenses for compliance with the Yarovoy-Ozerov package norms), in any case they further disrupt the schedule for implementing the federal project , which in its scale can be compared only with total electrification. It is likely that last week Rostelecom realized that funding from the fund should not be expected in the foreseeable future, and returned to the practice of upgrading the existing infrastructure instead of laying optics.

If the Ministry of Economic Development is still able to push through the idea of ​​channeling the fund to pay for operators' expenses, then it will be spent all for this purpose only, “by excluding options for its redistribution,” said Vedomosti, an employee of the Ministry. The representative of MegaFon supported the initiative of the ministry, in the other two operators of the Big Three refrained from commenting. In any case, there is not enough fund money to cover the costs of operators.