Megafon decided to sue FAS to preserve intranet roaming

The mobile operator Megafon has decided to file a lawsuit against the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), according to Vedomosti. The reason is the regulator’s requirement to cancel intranet roaming, which the company considers impracticable. According to the FAS, prices for communication services on trips around Russia should not differ from prices in the home region, since such a difference is neither economically nor technologically unfounded. In early August, telecom operators had to report on the fulfillment of the order of the department, but this was not done .

According to representatives of MegaFon, the position of the regulator is clear to them, but the FAS requirement is impracticable. In addition, the operator has long been the opportunity for subscribers to choose different tariff plans, using which the user gets equal prices for both home and guest regions. Anna Serebryanikova, Operations Director of MegaFon, believes that it is impossible to fulfill the wishes of the FAS within the deadlines set by the department.

VTB Capital analysts believe that the abolition of roaming along with the so-called “Law of Spring” is one of the main risks for the growth of the mobile communications market in the future. As for intra-national roaming, it accounts for about 3-4% of total revenues of telecom operators. Such data are given by Denis Kuskov, General Director of Telecom Daily, and Konstantin Ankilov, General Director of TMT Consulting. As for MegaFon, in this case we are talking about 9–12 billion rubles. (3-4% of revenues of 311.57 billion rubles for 2016).
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However, some experts believe that lawsuits will not help operators change the situation, turning it in their favor. BMS Law Firm partner Denis Frolov claims that yes, subscribers have options and tariffs to avoid unnecessary roaming charges. But the fact that subscribers have such an opportunity does not at all make legal the establishment of roaming for citizens who do not use such options. For this reason, says Frolov, the court is unlikely to take the side of the operators. On the other hand, the matter cannot be considered resolved. So says a representative of the law firm Lidings Andrei Zelenin, arguing that many companies won disputes with the FAS in court. Zelenin also believes that the main thing in the current situation is to show why a call from Moscow, for example, to Novosibirsk costs more than a call inside Moscow.

The meeting of the commission on the consideration of cases against the Big Four operators will be held at the end of September. FAS will hold a meeting on each of the telecoms operators in respect of whom the case has been initiated.