The Ministry of Communications will not regulate the work of Skype Out and other VoIP-services

The Office presented a new version of the bill without a clause prohibiting calls to VoIP subscribers in the network of other operators

The Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation presented a new version of the draft law establishing the rules for interaction of telecom operators. In this version, there is no point about banning calls to VoIP subscribers in the networks of other operators, Kommersant writes . True, the point remained about the need for compensation to operators who occupy a significant position. In most regions of Russia, this is Rostelecom. Experts believe that the remaining item can lead to increased costs for cellular companies and a drop in revenues of alternative telecom operators.

The Office sees a problem in the fact that instant messengers and VoIP-services offer their users low-cost long-distance communication. A voice traffic goes through the Internet channels, which violates the rules for connecting to the networks of the Russian Federation. And instead of paying for an international call ($ 0.14 per minute), Russian operators are paid for a local call (a little more than $ 0.01). In the previous version of the bill, VoIP operators were excluded from the list of organizations that have the right to join local, zonal and other networks.

In the previous version of the project, it was not indicated which VoIP operators lose access to various Russian networks. Market participants decided that it was Skype, Viber, WhatsApp and other operators. But it turned out that we are talking only about Russian VoIP-operators. Accordingly, the ban put domestic companies in unequal conditions with foreign services. If the bill were passed, non-optimal data traffic routes would be used to transmit voice information. As a result, the costs of operators could increase, which would increase the cost of services for subscribers.

In the new version of the draft law, the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media removed the clause on the introduction of the service “international completion of a call to the network of a Russian operator” Market participants feared that this could lead to the monopolization of the international communications market. Tomorrow, the government will discuss the details of the bill at a working meeting on inter-operator cooperation. Officials are going to reform this segment, and discussion of the possibility of changes in legislation has been going on for several years.
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Now calls from long-distance, international and cellular networks can not be directed immediately to the local network. Instead, calls are redirected through zonal networks. Due to the non-optimal construction of communication networks, additional costs are created for operators. Therefore, in the current version of the bill it is proposed to allow direct connection to long-distance, international and cellular networks. The adoption of this item will lead to the fact that Rostelecom’s revenues will decrease, since this company is the main zonal operator in the country. Also, the management of this company hopes to equalize the tariffs for interconnection and traffic transmission with the tariffs of cellular operators. Against such a step are the operators themselves.

In order to resolve the nascent conflict, the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media proposed to change the resolution of the Russian government on state regulation of prices for connection and traffic transmission services of essential operators (control at least 25% of the number capacity of the region).

The changes imply the need for ordinary operators to pay substantial operators the difference in the cost of passing traffic in the event that the first tariff is higher than the level set by the state for the second. Initially it was assumed that the refund will have to be paid for the traffic that passes through the networks of significant transit operators. But MTS, MegaFon, VimpelCom opposed this item. According to the Big Three, the expenses of cellular operators could grow by 15 billion rubles in aggregate. If you have to pay reimbursement of only the traffic initiated in the networks of significant operators, the expenses of the cellular will increase by 5 billion rubles a year.

Representatives of Rostelecom have already approved the new version of the draft law: “The compensation mechanism for traffic transmission services between fixed and mobile operators will be a step towards the phased establishment of mirror inter-operator tariffs. The measure will make it possible to bring together the tariffs for traffic transmission from fixed and mobile operators, eliminate the existing imbalance and level the conditions for competition. ”

Other market participants are not so positive about the document. In MTS and MegaFon, they advocate the abolition of the institution of essential operators. Andrei Azhigirov, Deputy General Director of Interregional TransitTelecom OJSC (MTT), believes that the reimbursement mechanism will put operators in unequal conditions.

“Rostelecom is in favor of setting a single tariff for terminating traffic to its network - 0.57 rubles per minute. If the project is adopted in its current form, significant operators will receive a compensation of 0.38 rubles per minute from cellular and will be able to install more profitable tariffs for such calls for subscribers ", - he said. The state cannot oblige cellular companies to compensate for the difference in tariffs for traffic transmission to other fixed and virtual mobile operators, as it regulates only the essential tariffs. “The fixed-line market can be monopolized, since the main traffic from fixed subscribers goes to mobile networks,” says Andrei Azhigirov.

The MTT claims that with the introduction of a reimbursement mechanism for significant operators, the company's revenue will decrease by 11 billion rubles.