The number of telecom operators has decreased in Russia

According to Konstantin Ankilov, General Director of TMT Consulting, the consolidation process continues in the telecommunications market: “The market is coming under the control of large players both due to their outstripping development and their activity in the field of mergers and acquisitions. In fact, the market already has signs of an oligopoly: 80% is accounted for by the five largest players.” However, he sees no reason to reduce the income of the universal service reserve. According to TMT Consulting, the total volume of the telecommunications market last year grew by 3.2% and reached 1.8 trillion rubles. “The size of the market has grown, so the income to the universal service reserve should have increased,” the expert argues.

For example, for the largest Russian operators Rostelecom and MTS, revenue from communication services for the nine months of 2021 (latest available data) increased by 6% (up to 339.75 billion rubles) and 5% (up to 308.11 billion rubles), respectively. .).

Universal services are understood as the minimum package of communication services, which should be available to the maximum possible number of citizens of the country, regardless of their place of residence. During the years of existence of the universal service reserve, both the list of services and the companies that organized them have changed several times. Since 2005, when the reserve was established, payphones have been installed at its expense, and since 2011, public Internet access points (mainly in Russian Post offices) that have been served by various companies. In 2014, the sole project executor, Rostelecom, was selected, and a ten-year agreement was signed with it for the provision of universal communication services with a total funding of RUB 163 billion, under which the operator is implementing a project to eliminate the “digital divide”. The company serves payphones, but several years ago they decided to abandon public Internet access points. Instead, by the end of last year, in all settlements with a population of 250 to 500, Wi-Fi points were organized for Internet access at speeds of less than 10 Mbps. At the same time, payphones were dismantled last year in settlements with a population of more than 1 thousand people and those where the traffic was less than one minute per month. Now, within the framework of the program, settlements with 100-500 inhabitants are being connected to cellular communications.

A representative of Rostelecom said that as part of the program to eliminate the digital divide, the company continues to service payphones in settlements with less than 1,000 inhabitants. The money released by reducing the number of payphones, he said, went, among other things, to the construction of base stations for cellular communications. Until 2030, it is planned to install 24 thousand stations in settlements with 100-500 inhabitants. Rostelecom does not disclose how much it costs to operate payphones and Wi-Fi access points as part of the program to eliminate the digital divide and how much goes to install base stations.

According to the report of Rostelecom, in 2021 the company received 12.97 billion rubles for the provision of universal communication services, in 2019 – 13.04 billion rubles. Data for the entire last year has not yet been published, but for nine months this amount amounted to 9.25 billion rubles.

Ankilov recalled that the contributions of operators to the reserve fall into the “general budget pot”, and are not directed only to the provision of universal communication services. At the same time, proposals are periodically made to increase the size of deductions to the universal service reserve or to oblige not only telecom operators to make such deductions. For example, last summer, Rostelecom President Mikhail Oseevsky proposed to oblige IT companies give 1.2% of their annual turnover to the universal service reserve.

The representative of the Ministry of Digital Development believes that “in general, the indicator on the market, by which deductions have decreased, is insignificant.” “It will not affect the provision of universal communication services. Issues related to an increase in the amount of deductions from operators to the universal service reserve are not currently being discussed,” he assured.