As you know, in Russia there is internal roaming. When leaving for a neighboring region, the subscriber has to pay for their calls at a more expensive tariff. Is there a solution to this problem? The cancellation of roaming in Russia has long been widely discussed, but will it happen in the near future?
In the near future, Russians should expect a new mobile tariff, at which the cost of calls will decrease to the level of home, regardless of the network coverage area. Under the new rules, calls will not be charged for calls from other cities and regions. The tariff rules throughout the country will be unchanged.
What do the experts say?
Finam Management Asset Management Company, represented by analyst Maxim Klyagin, reports that the introduction of this innovation should happen in the near future, since the abolition of national roaming in Russia is practically resolved and has no 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 length and uneven geographical topography, and this greatly complicates the work of organizing the infrastructure, and also increases the cost of its maintenance. Of course, it is worth noting the difficulty of formalizing the initiative through legislative norms. The bulk of the financial costs incurred by the consumer. According to experts, if the legislation changes, it would be possible to significantly reduce the cost of tariffs for the population for paying on-net roaming.
Previous attempts
In 2010 there was a parliamentary initiative to legally abolish national roaming. But, unfortunately, the State Duma considered it premature to abolish the existing rules, 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 yet 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 disadvantageous to 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 videos, sound files and notification programs. It can also be used when broadcasting live webinars, films, television 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 does this happen?
According to experts, the increased popularization of this topic indicates a direct intensification 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 calls in roaming, forming special tariff packages.
Tariff payment is charged per minute. If the connection is made up to three seconds inclusive - payment will not be charged. When connecting subscribers from different regions, mobile operators use zone and long-distance networks. In the situation that has developed at this stage, when the subscriber is connected to the national roaming, the system activates the service “intranet roaming communications”.
When a subscriber travels to another region, making intra-regional calls there, he will pay through his home network.
About national roaming
Since the networks of operators are physically unable to cover the entire territory of the country, they have a need to conclude a roaming agreement with operators from other regions of Russia and use their coverage for the connection. By definition, a guest network is one in which a subscriber registers, in which he himself becomes a roamer.
If intra-network roaming is canceled in Russia, this will inevitably lead to irreversible consequences in the form of loss of income of mobile operators, which will ultimately affect the final consumer, since they will cover a significant share in the loss of income. So say the interviewed analysts from RIA Novosti. Thus, you will have to expect a significant increase in the cost of calls.
Cancellation of roaming in Russia is a matter of soon?
The head of the antimonopoly Federal Service (FAS) Igor Artemyev used to say that it is necessary to cancel domestic roaming, especially in the Crimea. The top of the department called on the Ministry of 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 gives 3-5% of revenue to 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 realistic?
According to him, if you do not approve the reform of the legislation, there is a risk of increasing tariffs for mobile communications. How should the abolition of roaming in Russia be regulated? In the context of the growth of operators' incomes, it is wiser to first reorganize the industry legislation in the field of traffic transmission, and only then cancel roaming within the country. Otherwise, this will affect the tariffs for end users - which means that operators will have to recover their losses.
Konstantin Ankilov, representative of TMT Consulting, also agreed with the position expressed above. According to him, roaming revenue is about 5% in the revenue of mobile operators. This is a very tangible part of it, especially among such common providers as MTS and MegaFon. The cancellation of roaming in Russia in such conditions when the market is almost expanding will lead to a significant increase in the cost of communication. Operators will cover lost revenue by increasing tariffs, reaching approximately the same level of profitability.
Ankilov also expressed his attitude to roaming tariffs in Crimea in the media, noting the fact of an increase in inter-operator tariffs for some companies.
Opposite opinion
At the same time, the general director of an analytical news agency called TelecomDaily, Denis Kuskov, believes that national roaming does not bring supernatural revenue, and its cancellation should not affect the growth of tariffs. According to him, the operators have licenses at the federal level and are obliged to provide the same work throughout the state. The Ministry of Communications is taking the wrong position - not to pay attention to what is happening and agree with the actions of the operators. Considering that the EU managed to completely cancel roaming, this means that this can be done in Russia, Kuskov believes.
Cancel roaming in Russia: MTS and other operators
Cellular operators report that they are now working to reduce roaming tariffs.
The head of the press service of the MegaFon provider Dorokhina Yulia recalled that at present, operators conduct traffic through long-distance communication networks, which influenced the basic rates of domestic Russian roaming. In the future, these costs will be reduced by introducing new technologies, as well as carrying out traffic over a data transmission network (for example, VoLTE), but it is not possible to use them due to the lack of a legal base.
She also explained that today Megafon subscribers who regularly travel across Russia have the opportunity to connect the option “Be at home”, the price of which is 15 rubles per day. This makes it possible to communicate on trips at the prices of the home region.
What news is coming from MTS-Russia? Cancellation of roaming is also planned for this operator. MTS canceled it in 2015 on tariffs of the Smart series: the subscriber, while traveling in another region, is serviced on the basis of a home tariff. This was officially stated by Dmitry Solodovnikov - MTS spokeswoman.
Beeline has a phased roaming pricing policy for its customers. When using “ALL” package tariffs, unlimited calls are available from Beeline provider almost all over Russia. In this case, the user receives a set of available minutes, SMS and mobile Internet at a cost commensurate with the prices 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. This was officially announced by the spokeswoman for the provider, Anna Aybasheva.
Thus, active measures are already being taken to abolish national roaming. Whether it will become profitable and convenient for consumers - this can be seen in the near future.