Won't the switch jam?

For the state, the Internet is becoming not an arena of resistance, but quicksand, drawing in the energy of prohibitions

Thanks to the latest initiatives of the Ministry of Digital Development, changes await the Russian market of operators providing broadband access services, popularly known as Internet providers. First of all, they will affect small and medium-sized companies. In today's situation, being small is economically unjustified, and also inconvenient for the state - thousands of businesses need to be controlled.

The bright dawn and rapid decline of providers occurred more than 25 years ago. At first, there were only a few large operators, and thousands of enthusiasts ran cables into houses and apartments to provide an area, town or village with the Internet. Servers. Billing. Dozens. Hundreds. Then, maybe even thousands of happy users. The name for this is legion. In some areas of a large city, even several providers have appeared.

But things began to change quickly. Large companies have mastered independent construction of networks. ADSL technology has become widespread - fast Internet through the same copper telephone wires. The technology buried a bunch of those same small local providers in one year. First purchases, first big players. The Internet is not just in every home. Select from several options. Attracting a home Internet subscriber is one of the most expensive. Few people will fight laziness, call a technician, or change the operator. Loyalty at its best.

The above is the prerogative of rich millionaires. And how many places are there that large operators are still too lazy to go to? Or not profitable. Look at the map of Russia. That's how much there is.

The illusion of coverage and free access only in very busy areas. And the conditional village or not the most attractive areas are precisely served by small businesses. But his time has come.

The reason is the reform of the licensing policy from the Ministry of Digital Development. The point is, instead of a variety of options, leave three, each with strict requirements for authorized capital, territorial restrictions and the number of connected users. A separate cherry: at least a million rubles a year to the Roskomnadzor cash desk. Formally, it’s for the development of everything good, but in fact, it’s just another tax. There is no need to mention compliance with all requirements - such as the established SORM. And so it is clear.

Less than 10% of operators meet these requirements. If we accept everything as it is, a third will immediately leave the market. It is proposed to introduce innovations from September 1, and by 2028, make them mandatory for everyone. For some users this will probably go unnoticed. Some businesses will be quietly and calmly purchased. Some people should consider an alternative before they start watching their operator suffer physical agony. Some, by the way, may lose connection altogether - see the point about hard-to-reach places. But who cares now?

One of the main reasons for the impending storm, of course, is the desire to tighten the screws. With big business everything is clear. It’s not like SORM, you can put a sergeant on staff there. But how many such companies are there? About a dozen, no more. But you can’t reach every small and medium-sized one. Not everywhere there are black boxes; not everywhere all this nonsense is observed. This is part of the reason for the diversity of user reviews - for some, everything works great. Disorder.

The consequences seem obvious: it will be more expensive and worse. Some are also looking for a new job. This same consolidation will also affect the state. One can only sympathize. These are the times.

It seemed like there should be room for industry discussion. And in theory, or more precisely, in virtual space, it goes. But in practice, read at meetings at the Ministry of Digital Development, you don’t hear about it. Communication has also broken down in the main place - the relevant department.

The good news is that from idea to implementation - like from Moscow to Vladivostok. Of course, it’s unpleasant to watch how an industry that is already struggling is being strangled, but I would like to hope that this will not go smoothly, that the implementation of the plan will get bogged down in circumstances and will drag on for a long time. And that's not all.

The broadband access market is important, there is no doubt about it. In some places, perhaps critical. In some, surprisingly, it is no longer mandatory at all - the territory is covered by a satellite or cellular operator.

If you look a little further, it turns out that this circus with horses in the form of endless interference in the world of high technology and data transmission has turned into a sad spectacle when both the arena is dirty and the horses are tired. As predicted, the further the attempts to ban, the more bottlenecks open. And it is beginning to affect larger and larger industries and wider sections of the population.

Dry facts.

White lists have not worked and will not work - this is a utopia. Prohibiting bypassing blockages did not work because it is impossible.

Almost everyone is dissatisfied, but many seem to be starting to promote the topic of endless restrictions as political. An attempt to bury the Internet can suddenly turn into an avalanche of problems, where the same broadband operators may seem like a trifle.

The Internet turned out to be quicksand for the state. The more you jerk, the more it sucks. And now, it would seem, there is a crisis. Attempts to find a balanced solution to a stupid problem failed. The need to save face has disappeared, the masks have been dropped. All that remains is to start sorting things out through those rare channels that are still working and not blocked.

Warnings that a user has a VPN installed cost large sites tens of millions every day. It’s scary to even imagine how much small businesses lose due to all these experiments. The conflict between the towers is obvious, but telephone communications between them are constantly jammed. Only actors for money are happy.

So far, everything looks like the Internet may turn out to be the very iceberg that the Russian Federation will face. With all the many years of attempts to ban everything, this is the only place where the state fails over and over again. It is far from certain that all participants in the small operator market will survive the battle - what to do? But the total victory of the state is not yet obvious.