Russians were warned about rising Internet prices

In 2026, Russians will expect an increase in the price of the Internet due to rising prices for optical fiber. The general director of TMT Consulting, Konstantin Ankilov, spoke about this in a conversation with NSN.

According to him, there will not be a sharp increase in prices at the moment - the increase in the price of optical fiber will not immediately affect the costs of operators, since their networks have already been built, and not all of them require modernization.

“And then we will not face price increases greater than what we have seen periodically in recent years. There will be no major changes for subscribers here. Our tariffs would have increased even without this news, because other costs are rising. As a result, in any case, we will see an increase in prices; for some operators this has already happened at the beginning of 2026,” Ankilov said.

In January, Chinese manufacturers of optical fiber, which became a replacement for cables from Japan, raised prices for Russian buyers almost three times. Anastasia Bidzhelova, director for development and operation of communication services at Telecom Exchange, told RBC about this.

She noted that rising prices will lead to higher costs for renting dark fiber and building backbone networks. However, accurate estimates can only be given after Chinese suppliers formalize their new commercial offers. RBC Telecom Exchange clarified that they have reserves of cable purchased at the end of 2025, which will last for about a year. The company is exploring alternative supply options.

The press service of one of the largest trunk operators in Russia, TransTeleCom Company JSC, told reporters that their fiber optic reserves are sufficient to implement all infrastructure projects that were planned for the first half of 2026. The company is exploring the possibility of changing suppliers.