As you know, domestic roaming operates on the territory of Russia. When leaving for a neighboring region, the subscriber has to pay for his calls at a more expensive rate. Is there a solution to this problem? The abolition of roaming in Russia has long been discussed everywhere, but will it happen in the near future?
In the near future, Russians should expect a new mobile tariff, which will reduce the cost of calls to the level of home, regardless of network coverage. According to the new rules, no fees will be charged when receiving calls from other cities and regions. The fare rules throughout the country will remain unchanged.
What do the experts say?
Finam Management, represented by analyst Maxim Klyagin, reports that the introduction of this innovation should take place in the near future, since the abolition of national roaming in Russia is practically resolved and does not have any particular difficulties.
It is worth noting some points that will significantly slow down the process of project implementation. The territory of the Russian Federation has a significant extent and uneven geographical relief, and thissignificantly complicates the work of organizing the infrastructure, and also increases the cost of its maintenance. Of course, it is worth noting the complexity of formalizing the initiative through legislative norms. The main part of the financial costs will be borne by the consumer. According to experts, if the legislation is changed, it would be possible to significantly reduce the cost of tariffs for the population for paying for intranet roaming.
Former attempts
In 2010, there was a parliamentary initiative to legally abolish national roaming. But, unfortunately, the State Duma considered it premature to cancel the existing norms, arguing that operators incur additional costs when servicing calls at the interregional level. For this reason, the law on the abolition of roaming in Russia has not been issued.
What is roaming and its alternative?
National roaming is the actual use of the network of another mobile operator for the needs of the first. Due to the fact that its use is extremely unprofitable for consumers, mobile communications are being actively replaced by IP-telephony services.
Intranet roaming - in which one operator distributes telephone services through its own network between different regions of the country.
Volp (voiceover IP) is an IP protocol technology for telephony and communications. The technology can be used for sound transmission, downloading video, sound files and alert programs. It can also be used when broadcasting live webinars, movies, TV shows. Since the abolition of roaming in Russia has not yet been implemented, the use of these alternatives is becoming more popular every month.
How is this happening?
According to experts, the increased popularity of this topic indicates a direct aggravation of competition in the mobile communications market. First of all, VoIP technology will significantly reduce the cost of calls. Recently, all mobile operators have been reducing the cost of roaming calls by forming special tariff packages.
Payment for the tariff is charged by the minute. If the connection is made up to three seconds inclusive, the payment is not charged. When connecting subscribers from different regions, cellular operators use zonal and long-distance networks. In the situation that has developed at this stage, when the subscriber connects to national roaming, the system activates the service "intra-network roaming".
When a subscriber travels to another region, making intra-regional calls there, he will pay through his home network.
About national roaming
Since operators' networks cannot physically cover the entire territory of the country, they have a need to enter into a roaming agreement with operators from other regions of Russia and use their coverage to make a connection. By definition, a guest network is one in which a subscriber registers, in which he himself becomes a roamer.
If there is a cancellationof intranet roaming in Russia, this will inevitably lead to irreversible consequences in the form of loss of income of mobile operators, which will eventually affect the end consumer, since they will cover a significant share in income losses. So say the interviewed analysts from RIA Novosti. Thus, a significant increase in the cost of calls will have to be expected.
Cancellation of roaming in Russia - a matter of soon?
The head of the antimonopoly Federal Service (FAS) Igor Artemiev said earlier that it is necessary to cancel domestic roaming, especially in Crimea. The top of the department called on the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications to finish work in this direction as soon as possible.
However, the risk of tariff increases remains a serious problem. According to analysts, roaming generates 3-5% of revenue for mobile providers.
According to the head of the department of wireless technologies Vitaly Solonin, after the abolition of national roaming, with the existing regulation of long-distance traffic, the profitability of telecom operators will be about 3-5% of their individual income from mobile communications.
Is a serious tariff increase real?
According to him, if the law reform is not approved, there is a risk of increasing tariffs for mobile communications. How should the abolition of roaming in Russia be regulated? In the context of growing revenues of operators, it is more reasonable to first reorganize the industry legislation in the field of traffic transmission, and only after that cancel roaming within the country. Otherwise, it will affect the tariffs for endusers, which means operators will have to recover their losses.
Konstantin Ankilov, a representative of TMT Consulting, also agreed with the above position. According to him, income from roaming is about 5% of the revenue of mobile operators. This is a very tangible part of it, especially for such common providers as MTS and MegaFon. The abolition of roaming within Russia in such conditions, when the market is almost not expanding, will lead to a serious rise in the cost of communication. Operators will make up for lost revenues by increasing tariffs, reaching approximately the same level of profitability.
Ankilov also expressed his attitude towards roaming tariffs in Crimea in the media, noting the fact that inter-operator tariffs have been increased for some companies.
Opposite opinion
At the same time, Denis Kuskov, CEO of an analytical news agency called TelecomDaily, believes that national roaming does not bring supernatural revenue, and its cancellation should not affect the growth of tariffs. According to him, operators have federal licenses and are required to provide the same work throughout the state. The Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications takes the wrong position - not to pay attention to what is happening and agree with the actions of the operators. Taking into account that the EU managed to completely abolish roaming, this means that it is possible to do it in Russia, Kuskov believes.
Cancellation of roaming in Russia: MTS and other operators
Mobile operators report that they are working nowover the reduction of roaming tariffs.
The head of the press service of the provider "MegaFon" Dorokhina Yulia recalled that at present, operators conduct traffic through long-distance networks, which has affected the basic rates of domestic roaming. In the future, these costs will be reduced through the introduction of new technologies, as well as traffic through the data network (for example, VoLTE), but it is not possible to use them due to the lack of a legal framework.
She also explained that even today Megafon subscribers who regularly travel around Russia have the opportunity to activate an option called "Be at home", the price of which is 15 rubles per day. This makes it possible to communicate while traveling at the rates of the home region.
What news do you get from MTS-Russia? This operator also plans to cancel roaming. MTS canceled it in 2015 on tariffs of the Smart series: a subscriber, while traveling in another region, is served on a home tariff basis. This was officially announced by Dmitry Solodovnikov, MTS press secretary.
Beeline is pursuing a gradual policy of reducing roaming rates for its customers. When using the "ALL" package tariffs, subscribers have access to unlimited calls from the "Beeline" provider almost throughout Russia. In this case, the user receives a set of available minutes, SMS and mobile Internet at a cost commensurate with the rates of the home region. Moreover, when traveling through the territory of many regions of Russia, communication is provided at the same prices as at home. About itAnna Aibasheva, spokeswoman for the provider company, officially announced.
Thus, active measures are already being taken to abolish national roaming. Whether this will be profitable and convenient for consumers - this can be seen in the near future.
