FAS proposes to deregulate this service

The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) proposes to abolish price regulation for the call termination service (when the call goes through the networks of several operators in different regions). Currently, prices for this service are regulated for significant operators that occupy a significant market share, primarily Rostelecom. As a result, the call termination fee may increase, and hence the cost of the call for subscribers, market participants fear.

Photo: Kommersant / Oleg Kharseev

Next photo 1 / 4

Photo: Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo: Kommersant / Oleg Kharseev

Photo: Kommersant / Alexander Shcherbak / buy photo

Photo: Kommersant / Oleg Kharseev

The proposals were developed by a working group that existed under the FAS in the first half of 2012, said Dmitry Rutenberg, head of the FAS Transport and Communications Control Department. According to him, we are not talking about extending regulation to cellular networks, but about its abolition for fixed communication networks. “There is a rule that prohibits restraining the transition of the market from a natural monopoly to a state of competition. It’s time to stop considering the cellular and fixed-line markets separately in terms of “voice,” says Mr. Rutenberg.

The government, to which the FAS submitted its proposals, reviewed them and asked to submit its opinion to the Federal Tariff Service (FTS), the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications, Dmitry Rutenberg clarified.

Landing or termination charges occur when a call is made over multiple operators' networks. For example, according to the existing rules, a call from a fixed-line subscriber in Moscow to a fixed-line subscriber in St. Petersburg should go like this: local communication network of Moscow - zonal communication network of the Moscow region - long-distance network - zonal network of the Leningrad region - local network of St. Petersburg. A long-distance operator who has received a fee from the caller for such a call must pay a portion to operators in Moscow and the region for initiating the call, and to operators in the Leningrad region and St. Petersburg for terminating the call. At the same time, the state regulates prices for inter-operator services only for significant operators (a fixed-line operator occupying more than 25% of the number capacity in a certain region; in Moscow - MGTS, in St. Petersburg - Rostelecom). For example, at MGTS the cost of terminating a call is 0.25-0.38 rubles. At the same time, the cost of landing a call on cellular networks is 0.95-1.05 rubles.

At the end of 2012, Rostelecom's revenue from local communication services amounted to 85.7 billion rubles, intrazonal - 18.8 billion rubles, long-distance and international communication - 20.4 billion rubles. MGTS's revenue from communication services for the same period amounted to 26.8 billion rubles.

The FTS agrees with the need to review landing fees. “It is necessary to reconsider the principles of pricing for traffic transmission services, since in some cases the prices for them exceed the tariffs for telephone services provided to end users,” the service’s press center reported. At the same time, the FTS notes, an analysis of foreign practice shows that pricing for connection services and traffic transmission services is subject to state regulation.

The Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications stated that “optimizing traffic transmission is one of the tasks within the framework of the road map “Development of competition and improvement of antimonopoly legislation.” The ministry intends to initiate changes to Order N98, which regulates the traffic flow scheme. The Ministry of Economic Development considers it possible in principle to abolish price regulation for fixed-line operators. “According to the “road map” “Development of competition...”, in 2013 it is necessary to conduct an analysis of the telephone services markets in the territory of individual municipalities and entities, as well as assess the feasibility of launching pilot projects with the cessation of tariff regulation of public telecommunications services,” they reported. press service of the ministry.

“We are in favor of equalizing call termination rates for both fixed and mobile networks,” says Valery Kostarev, an employee of Rostelecom’s external communications department. However, MTS (controls MGTS) believes that the abolition of regulation could have a negative impact on tariffs. “Given the continued monopoly on the provision of fixed-line communication services in certain regions, deregulation of call termination prices may lead to an unreasonable increase in tariffs by monopolists. This, in turn, may cause an increase in the prices of calls to these networks for subscribers,” the press believes - MTS Secretary Irina Agarkova. The Interregional Transit Telecom (MTT) company agrees with this opinion.

However, one of the market participants is confident that the abolition of regulation will not lead to significant changes, since “operators will be afraid of the FAS, which may see a violation of antimonopoly legislation in the price increase and impose a turnover fine.”

Anna Balashova

Operators ended the call