Amendments to the Law on Communications have been prepared, which may give telecom operators the right to conclude contracts with subscribers using automated devices and in electronic form starting in 2019. Interfax has reviewed the text of the draft law. If the amendments are adopted, operators will be able to verify the accuracy of subscriber information not only by an identity document, but also through the Unified Identification and Authentication System (USIA), a qualified electronic signature, a single portal of public services, and by connecting to government agencies' systems, including the Interdepartmental Electronic Interaction System (SIEI). One source in the telecommunications market says that the draft law was prepared based on the results of the work of a working group with the participation of telecom operators on the Roskomnadzor platform. According to another source of the agency, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which, together with Roskomnadzor, is engaged in preventing illegal sales of SIM cards, participated in the development of the draft law. Roskomnadzor has not commented on the draft law, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not respond to Interfax's request.

VimpelCom, MTS and Megafon declined to comment on the bill.

Telecom operators will also be required to confirm the accuracy of information about their subscribers by the end of 2018, according to the draft law. To do this, operators of state information systems, including the databases of the Pension Fund of Russia (PFR) and the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund (FFOMS), will have to provide operators with free access to these systems by March 31, 2017.

The agency does not name the developers of the amendments. Such a law will give mobile operators an alternative source of distribution of SIM cards, including allowing them to receive applications and check subscriber data remotely, for example, through the state services portal, "then the SIM card can be delivered by courier, by mail or in another way," an informed source of Interfax suggested. According to him, this will allow operators to reduce distribution costs and provide an opportunity for new subscribers to appear.

“In the future, this norm will be able to stimulate the use of the database of telecom operators for other stories that are useful to the state and business, for example, when identifying subscribers during mass events,” the agency’s source added.

Operators will be required to verify information received from legal entity subscribers about end users of services, follows from the amendments. Currently, such an obligation is not specified in the law, and the consequence has been the problem of so-called cellular collective farms - dealers of unregistered SIM cards who purchase contracts from operators en masse, the agency explains. The latter consider "collective farms" as corporate clients, but it is often impossible to identify end users of services.

It is proposed to fine operators 200,000–300,000 roubles for providing communication services without reliable subscriber information in the billing system. It is proposed to set the fine for a legal entity for failure to provide the operator with a list of end users of communication services within the range of 50,000–70,000 roubles, and for an individual entrepreneur – within the range of 40,000–50,000 roubles.

The operator will be required to charge a fixed fee of 100 rubles for issuing a SIM card to a subscriber, according to the amendments. Currently, the law states that this service cannot cost more than 100 rubles, which allows dealers of gray SIM cards to distribute contracts for free, including without identifying subscribers, the agency notes. “This is an economic measure, it should work against distributors of SIM cards who distribute them on the street. Since they do not act on behalf of the telecom operator, distributing such SIM cards will be unprofitable for them due to the fact that an additional 100 rubles will be charged, which will not go to the account. Such an economic measure should reduce the sale of SIM cards on the street,” a source in one of the telecom operators believes. The fine for distributing SIM cards without authority from the operator for individuals is proposed to be set at 2,000-5,000 rubles, for legal entities - at the level of 100,000-200,000 rubles.

For the illegal sale of SIM cards, foreigners are proposed to be fined 50,000–60,000 rubles with confiscation of SIM cards or be given administrative arrest for up to 15 days with deportation from Russia.

From 2019, telecom operators will be able to provide services to subscribers only after user data appears in their billing systems, according to the draft law. "The provision of mobile radiotelephone services, data transmission services and Internet access using identification modules (SIM cards. - IF) of telecom operators is allowed only after entering information about an individual (subscriber or user of communication services) into the database of the operator's billing systems," the document says. This rule is also aimed at combating the distribution of SIM cards outside the offices of telecom operators and their authorized partners, the agency's source notes.

Operators may be allowed to sell SIM cards via the Internet – Interfax