Will roaming be canceled in Russia? When will roaming in Russia be canceled and why operators do not want to do this? MTS: updated prices for mobile communications when traveling in Russian regions.

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In December 2017, the “Big Four” mobile operators, yielding to the insistence of the FAS, promised to equalize the cost of calls in the home region and beyond. On January 31, 2018, the deadline allotted to VimpelCom (owner of the Beeline brand), Megafon and MTS to adjust their pricing policy expired, and already in March the FAS opened antimonopoly cases against them, accusing them of high prices for roaming in Russia.

Was roaming within the country canceled or not in 2018? What did the FAS fight lead to, which cellular operators complied with the agency’s requirements, and which ones does it still have complaints about?

Types of roaming in Russia

Roaming is a mode of using cellular communications outside the coverage area of your operator’s network. When there are no towers of the subscriber’s service company in the subscriber’s territory, or the coverage of the partner company is wider, the capacities of another supplier are used to provide mobile communications. In this case, the number is saved. This concept applies to international and national roaming.

In Russia, in addition to the national one, there are two more types of roaming:

intranet – registration with your own operator outside your home region: the subscriber is charged an additional fee for expanding network coverage;
in Crimea - the existence of this type of roaming is due to geopolitical conditions: Western sanctions introduced after the peninsula joined the Russian Federation in 2014 denied the Big Four (Beeline, Megafon, MTS and Tele2) direct access to the market. Companies provide services through intermediaries, which affects final prices for consumers.

How did FAS achieve the abolition of roaming?

The Federal Antimonopoly Service announced its intention to achieve the elimination of roaming in the country, up to the exclusion of this concept from legislative acts, in November 2016, and applied coercive measures in the following summer:

On July 14, it issued warnings to the Big Four to eliminate intranet roaming;
On August 3, it opened cases against each operator for high prices already in national roaming.

FAS threatened to fine violators - the agency has the authority to issue an order to seize unjustifiably received income in favor of the federal budget.

A weighty argument that the FAS has been presenting to operators since December 2017 is Presidential Decree No. 618 “On the main directions of state policy for the development of competition” dated December 21, 2017. The national plan for the development of competition in the Russian Federation until 2020, approved by him, provides for the elimination of unreasonable differences in the cost of mobile communications when Russians travel internally.

Deadlines

When all federal operators cancel roaming in Russia, from what date will unified tariffs for mobile communications be established? After repeated postponements, the FAS determined the final ones:

January 31, 2018 – for Beeline, Megafon and MTS;
May 31, 2018 – for Tele2.

The agency demanded a regular report on the measures taken by operators.

In December 2017, after a joint meeting of the regulator, the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications and mobile operators, it became known that a compromise had been reached: the companies agreed to cancel intranet roaming.

Is intranet roaming canceled in Russia or not in 2018?

The promises of the companies, the assurances of the head of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications and the decisive attitude of the antimonopoly agency gave reason to believe that this phenomenon of the Russian cellular market will soon become a thing of the past.

The latest news shows that the antimonopoly service has no complaints about national roaming: on February 15, the head of the FAS, Igor Artemyev, admitted that work in this direction has been carried out.

Meanwhile, checking the reports of cellular operators on intranet roaming led to new antimonopoly investigations: on March 5, 2018, the FAS opened a case against MTS and Megafon, and on March 12, against VimpelCom. The reason is the inflated cost of communication and the introduction of a daily fee for customers leaving their home region.

The operators claim that they have complied with the requirements.

"Megaphone"

The fact that Megafon has canceled roaming in Russia is stated in a message on the company’s website dated December 21, 2017. According to the information, there will be no charge for received calls from local subscribers, and the cost of outgoing calls to numbers in the region of residence will not exceed 2 rubles. The operator did not specify how much other calls would cost. The changes will be implemented in stages.

Until this happens, Megafon subscribers (except for guests of Crimea and Sevastopol, operators have special offers for these regions) can take advantage of the following options:

"Fell yourself like at your own home". Maintaining home conditions costs 15 rubles per day (subscription fee), you need to pay 30 rubles for connection;
“All Russia” with free incoming calls, the price per minute of outgoing calls and one sent SMS is 3 rubles. The first connection is free, the second connection costs 30 rubles. Daily subscription fee – 7 rubles.

Since March 12, 2018, Megafon has reduced prices for communication services in Crimea for numbers connected to the “Turn on!”, “Go to Zero” and “Per Second” tariffs. Before reducing the cost of calls at other tariffs, the company offers to connect the “Crimea” option for free under the following conditions: subscription fee - 15 rubles per day, free incoming, outgoing - 4 rubles per minute, SMS - 3 rubles, Internet traffic - 5 rubles per 1 MB

MTS

The MTS operator canceled roaming in Russia in 2018 on the “Super MTS” and “My Friend” tariffs - from March 14, for customers connected to them, incoming calls from local subscribers are free, outgoing calls are charged at home. Communication with an interlocutor from another region will cost 5.5 rubles - the cost of calls (both incoming and outgoing) per minute. Prices for SMS have also been reduced.

The cost of communication under other MTS tariffs can be checked on the operator’s website in the “Roaming and intercity” section. So, for a Muscovite with a Smart tariff, telephone conversations in Kazan will cost:

incoming calls are free if the call is from a local number, 5.50 rubles per minute for other calls;
outgoing calls are free for the first 550 minutes, then you will have to pay 2 rubles per minute for calls to local numbers, 5 rubles for other numbers.

"Beeline"

For clients traveling around Russia, Beeline offers the “My Country” option. For incoming and outgoing calls the price is the same - 3 rubles per minute, there is no subscription fee, but when you connect, 25 rubles will be debited from your account. This service will be useful for those connected to old tariff plans.

In the new Beeline, roaming within Russia has been abolished: in 2018, home conditions to varying degrees are retained in the tariffs of the “Everything” line. The monthly cost of maintenance ranges from 400 to 2,500 rubles. For the cheapest one (“All 1”), only incoming calls will be free in another region.

The most expensive – “All 5” includes:

free inbox;
unlimited number of outgoing calls to Beeline numbers;
5,000 minutes for calls to all numbers;
500 SMS to all numbers.

When will Tele2 cancel roaming in Russia?

This company still has time - the operator’s report satisfied the FAS, and the agency allowed it to adjust tariffs until May 31, 2018.

As of March, the cost of calls, messages and the Internet depends on the territory where the Tele2 client is located.

up to 1 ruble per minute for all incoming calls;
up to 3 rubles per outgoing minute;
up to 3 rubles per text message.

A compromise was reached between the federal monopoly service and the four largest Russian operators on whether or not to cancel roaming in Russia in 2018. In the new year, changes will come into force, thanks to which subscribers will not pay for such a service.

The basis for making the corresponding decision was a decree signed by the president and aimed at eliminating the unreasonable difference when subscribers leave the home network in tariffs for communication services and the national plan that was approved in accordance with it. Whether or not roaming was actually canceled in 2018 and what nuances there are – see our publication in more detail.

The task and goals of canceling roaming in Russia

The task of canceling roaming in Russia was set in the previous year by the antimonopoly service. The reason for this decision was unjustifiably high prices. However, given the scale of such work, it was not possible to implement it as of December 2017. The situation changed only at the beginning of 2018. Now there is no reason for you to be charged any additional payments for calls when leaving one region to another outside your home network.

After making the appropriate decision, the FAS constantly monitors the process of waiving fees for services for mobile subscribers. Moreover, if any non-compliance or violations are discovered, it is quite possible to initiate a criminal case for violation of the Law “On Competition”. Income obtained illegally will be confiscated.

Algorithm of actions of the largest mobile operators

Mobile operators began preparing in advance for the possible cancellation of roaming. But, despite all the voiced demands of the antimonopoly service, such companies began to systematically increase tariffs. If we compare prices for services with 2016, they have increased by about one and a half times.

As for the implementation of decrees on the cancellation of roaming in Russia in 2018, the actions of the leading operators are as follows:

Back in December 2017, Beeline began the process of stabilizing tariffs in national roaming;
Megafon began the process of canceling intranet roaming on February 28, 2018;
MTS officially announced a reduction in tariffs for subscribers while traveling in Russia;
Tele2 initially took a wait-and-see approach, but as soon as the FAS issued threats of punitive measures, the company immediately took active action.

Leading mobile operators react differently to the FAS decision, but one way or another, in May 2018 they will still have to review their tariffs and regulate the billing system.

There is no need to fear that in 2018, the refusal of roaming will provoke another wave of increase in tariffs for mobile services. After all, the balance of interests of companies and subscribers will be taken into account due to an additional increase in traffic.

Tele 2: current cost of roaming services

The cost of services depends on the region to which you are planning a trip. Some tariff plans have preferential terms. Therefore, before traveling, be sure to read the specific conditions of your tariff in your personal account. In addition, you can use the short number *107#.

Please note: roaming from Tele2 does not require any additional steps to activate. This service is activated automatically. The subscriber's consent is not required. However, do not forget that you need to check your balance on your phone before traveling. To do this, dial *105#.

Please note: active Tele2 tariff plans can take advantage of uniform prices for mobile communication services, regardless of the region of registration. Incoming and outgoing calls – 5 rubles. Outgoing message within the country – 3.50 rubles, outside – 5.50 rubles. Cost MM S is 6 rubles.Certain tariff plans, which include free minutes, offer subscribers unlimited roaming communications.

MTS: updated prices for mobile communications when traveling across Russian regions

Since February 2018, MTS has introduced new prices for calls, Internet and SMS on a number of tariffs outside the home region. The new conditions will help reduce subscribers' communication costs by two to ten times. For example, the cost of incoming calls to other operators in the region where you are located before the changes was 10.9 rubles per minute, but now it is free.

The cost of outgoing calls to all numbers in the region of your stay used to be 14 rubles per minute, now the home tariff for local calls applies. Outgoing calls to phone numbers of other Russian operators used to cost 14 rubles per minute, now – 5.50.

Megafon: important changes

Megafon resets the price of stay for all incoming calls from regional numbers when traveling around Russia. Now the price for outgoing calls will not exceed 2 rubles per minute. In this case, the basic cost of the Internet will be the same as in your home region.

But the new principles of tariffs will be implemented in practice step by step, since in order to implement this, this operator will need to change approximately three thousand tariffs across the country. The very first changes occurred in January 2018.

Those Megafon subscribers who use package tariffs have been communicating for quite a long time at the so-called home conditions when traveling around the country. Those subscribers who plan to maintain the conditions of their current plan for various trips can use the “Be at home” option before the changes take effect.

Beeline: what's new in roaming across the country?

At the moment, Beeline offers its subscribers several tariffs that allow them to use roaming within the country and save significantly:

My country - using this option, you can significantly reduce your mobile communications costs. The prices are as follows: SMS messages, incoming and outgoing calls will cost 3 rubles. Connection cost – 25 rubles;
My intercity fare is three rubles per day. Calls within the network are not charged; calls to numbers of other mobile operators cost three rubles per minute. The connection cost is 30 rubles.

Outside your region, using the Internet requires separate activation. Why did the operator make this decision? And the service was not included in the standard set of options? The reason is that not everyone uses mobile Internet when traveling. Those for whom this is important can choose different payment methods depending on the duration of their trip.Moreover, each of them offers the user four gigabytes per month.

There are two options:

*115*051# - using this short number, you can connect to the Internet with a daily fee (seven rubles). This is a very good option if the trip is short-term and there is no need to pay for more traffic.
*115*061# is a good choice for those who are leaving for more than 30 days. In this case, the subscription fee will be charged for the entire month.

But if 4 gigabytes of information is not enough for you, you can use a larger volume, of course, paying a higher cost.

Important: if any problems arise in roaming, systematically monitor the balance on your phone. In a situation of force majeure, contact the operators directly.

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On August 13, the deadline expired by which mobile operators MTS, MegaFon, Beeline and Tele2 were supposed to eliminate the markup on communication services in intranet roaming. No company has done this yet

Photo: Alexander Shalgin / TASS

Until August 10-13, the “big four” mobile operators - MTS, MegaFon, VimpelCom (Beeline trademark) and T2 Mobile (a subsidiary of T2 RTK Holding, operating under the Tele2 brand) - had to report on the implementation of the FAS order to abolish the markup for subscribers on communication services in intranet roaming.

The surcharge applies to the network of the same operator with whom the subscriber has a contract, but outside the “home” region, that is, the one where it was concluded.

According to the requirements of Russian legislation, operators must notify subscribers of all changes in tariffs ten days before their introduction. But in early August, none of the Quartet members informed subscribers about changes in the principles of tariffing for intranet roaming.

The FAS addressed the Quartet operators in mid-July. The service considered that setting different tariffs for cellular communication services in the home region and when traveling around Russia violates clause 6 of Part 1 of Art. 10 of the Law “On Protection of Competition”, which prohibits companies with a dominant position from limiting competition by setting different prices for the same product without justifying this economically, technologically or otherwise.

“When moving to another region of the country, being in the network of his operator, the subscriber receives completely different price conditions than in his home region, and the more expensive the subscriber’s tariff plan, the less for such a subscriber the difference in tariffs for cellular communication services at home and when traveling” , - said the FAS message. The FAS analysis showed that prices for communication services (calls within the region, outside the region, SMS messages, data transfer) when traveling should not differ from prices in the home region. The service demanded that operators eliminate the unreasonable differences in each tariff plan.

Video: RBC TV channel

As a representative of the FAS press service told RBC on Friday, August 11, the service received information from operators “related to the implementation of the agency’s warnings.” “Including requests to familiarize yourself with the analytical report based on the results of the market analysis. All materials are received with the stamp “for official use”, so they are not subject to disclosure,” he said. The FAS representative refused to say whether any of the “four” reported on the abolition of the markup, as well as other details.

According to two RBC sources close to the Quartet operators, in letters sent to the FAS, MTS, MegaFon, VimpelCom and T2 RTK Holding ask the department to clarify the essence of the order. “It is unclear what tariff operators will have to apply to a subscriber in intranet roaming - the one that is valid in his home region, or the one that is valid in the region where the subscriber is roaming. At what tariffs, for local or long-distance calls, will subscribers call to their home region, at what rates - within the region of their stay,” explains one of RBC’s interlocutors.

According to him, if it is decided that the subscriber will have to communicate in roaming at the tariffs that apply in the region where he arrived, and if these tariffs turn out to be lower than those that apply in his home region, it will be easier for the subscriber to buy a new SIM -map. “The question arises of how to combat fraud (fraud, unauthorized actions in the communication network. — RBC). In the end, all operators will equalize tariffs across the country,” says RBC’s source in one of the four operators. According to him, the operators also turned to the FAS with a request to increase the deadline for complying with the order.

MTS representative Dmitry Solodovnikov said that the company “is in dialogue with the FAS,” but refused to disclose its details. Representatives of MegaFon, VimpelCom and T2 RTK Holding also declined to make official comments. MegaFon representative Yulia Dorokhina earlier said that it is impossible to change about 3 thousand tariff plans throughout the country within the period determined by the department. According to her, the operator’s IT services will take “months, maybe even years” to make changes.

At the same time, the FAS representative stated that the deadlines could be extended. To do this, operators must submit a petition to the department justifying this need.

The head of the FAS Department of Communications and Information Technology Regulation, Elena Zaeva, previously said that if operators do not eliminate violations by the deadline, the service will initiate a case for violating antimonopoly legislation. After this, a commission must be created and up to six months are allotted to consider the case. At the same time, the FAS has the right to use such a tool as transferring unjustifiably received income to the federal budget, Zaeva noted.

MTS, MegaFon, VimpelCom and T2 RTK Holding do not disclose how much they earn in intranet roaming. The general director of TMT Consulting, Konstantin Ankilov, estimated the Quartet’s revenue from roaming in Russia in 2016 at approximately 35 billion rubles. This is 4% of the total income of these companies.

From the "Big Four" mobile operators to reduce roaming prices. According to the FAS, different tariffs for cellular communication services in the home region and when traveling around Russia are unreasonable and violate competition law. The agency warned Beeline, MTS, Megafon and Tele2 about the need to change tariffs for communication services when traveling, eliminating unjustified price differences.

The Village looks into what the FAS decision means and when to expect the abolition of roaming in Russia.

Background

At the end of 2016, the FAS formed a working group, the participants of which were representatives of mobile operators, the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications, the Ministry of Economic Development and Rospotrebnadzor. The group discussed possible scenarios for the abolition of roaming in Russia. At the same time, operators proposed introducing separate tariff plans for subscribers.

However, by March, the antimonopoly service had not detected any active actions on the part of the operators and began an investigation, studying the technology for providing communication services. As a result, the FAS came to the conclusion that the difference in tariffs was economically and technically unjustified, so the agency issued a warning against different prices for the same service.

What does the FAS warning mean?

The warning from the antimonopoly service is aimed at abolishing intranet roaming - a situation when a subscriber, traveling to another region, remains in the communication network of his operator. This only applies to local calls. Thus, according to the FAS, a subscriber with a Moscow SIM card who finds himself in Khabarovsk should be able to call local Khabarovsk numbers at home tariffs.

Separately, it is worth noting that the law directly provides for the right of operators to charge for incoming calls if the subscriber has moved to another numbering zone. Thus, the proposed price reduction will only affect outgoing calls from subscribers within their operator’s network. However, the FAS is already planning to amend the legislation in order to completely abolish intranet roaming.

In addition, by the end of the week the antimonopoly service plans to express a separate position on national roaming - a situation when a subscriber, traveling to another region, ends up in the network of another operator. Thus, some operators do not provide services throughout the country: the Tele2 network, for example, covers about half of the regions.

For this reason, the FAS issued a warning only to federal operators - regional networks, for example the Yekaterinburg Motiv or the Chechen Vainakh Telecom, will not be affected by the changes. In essence, regional operators have to serve subscribers in another region as if they were abroad, since in this case they are on a foreign network and are served by a local operator.

However, according to representatives of the FAS, subscribers getting into the network of other operators is rather an exception, since the networks of the three main operators in Russia - Beeline, MTS and Megafon - cover almost the entire country, with the exception of Crimea. For this reason, roaming in Crimea may continue due to the costs of operators for making calls outside their own networks.

When to expect roaming cancellation

Operators must change the terms of their tariff plans within 14 days of receiving the warning. After this, they are required to notify subscribers about the changes - 10 days before the tariffs go into effect. Thus, if the operators agree to comply with the decision of the antimonopoly service, intranet roaming will be canceled after 24 days.

If operators refuse to comply with the FAS requirement, the abolition of roaming may be significantly delayed. First, the department will initiate a case for violation of antimonopoly legislation within 10 days. After this, a commission will appear that will consider the case for three to six months. In turn, operators can appeal the commission’s decision in court, which will suspend the execution of the FAS order for the entire duration of the consideration of the case by the courts of first and appellate instances. In this case, you will have to wait even more than a year for the cancellation of roaming.

What operators say

MTS, Tele2 and Beeline were not ready to comment on the prospect of canceling roaming. Representatives of Megafon stated that they do not yet fully understand the position of the FAS, and noted that the majority of network subscribers are not affected by roaming anyway.

"Megaphone"

For Megafon subscribers, roaming-free travel when traveling around Russia has long arrived, since most of them use package offers. This means that the cost of communication services when traveling around Russia does not differ from the home region.

We do not yet fully understand the FAS position on this issue; we will study the text of the warning.

In recent years, it has been a sin for mobile operators to complain about poor income. They pursued tariff policies based on their preferences. They constantly introduced some additional services, for which their own fees were also assigned. We introduced different types of roaming within the country and generally felt good. Even despite the fact that many subscribers expressed justified dissatisfaction with the need to pay for roaming within one country. But in the summer of 2017, the Federal Antimonopoly Service and the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of Russia decided to take a closer look at this issue.

MTS canceled roaming in Russia in 2017 or not, when will it be cancelled?

The abolition of roaming in Russia will happen. But this significant event will not happen immediately. Initially, the FAS demanded in July 2017 to cancel all roaming with four leading operators within two weeks. After 14 days nothing happened - everything remained as it was. Let me remind you that in Russia national roaming, intranet roaming and roaming within the Crimea exist quite calmly. Those. being outside the home region or the absence of MTS towers in a certain region leads to the need to pay additional fees to users.

It was this surcharge that the antimonopoly service demanded to cancel. Why didn't this happen in the summer? Representatives of the company explained this by saying that from a purely technical point of view it is impossible to carry out such a procedure. However, the FAS was determined to go all the way in this matter and initiated proceedings against the leading operators.

There is no point in delving into all the twists and turns of the struggle between operators and government services: it is better to analyze the results. The result was that the Federal Antimonopoly Service ordered MTS to cancel roaming for its clients within the country. In particular, intranet roaming must be canceled before December 15, 2017. All other types of roaming should disappear from tariffs for subscribers by July 2018. This news seems to be positive for subscribers: they will not have to pay additional amounts for communication, and they will have the opportunity to save on mobile communications. But is this really so?

Possible consequences of cancellation for subscribers

But you shouldn’t rejoice over the cancellation of roaming prematurely. To begin with, it is worth paying attention to one important nuance: in recent years, MTS has been actively working to expand its coverage area and network operation. Significant resources were invested in this area, including profits from roaming within the country. If roaming is canceled, the company will begin to lose its profits, which from a business point of view is a negative symptom.

Yes, in words the Federal Antimonopoly Service assured all leading operators that it would help cope with these forced financial losses. But this is in words. How it will turn out in practice, hardly anyone can say with 100% certainty. It is also possible that over the next year there will be a significant increase in the amount of subscription fees, tariffs for calls and mobile Internet. The growth is much more significant than previously planned.

Those subscribers who have never had the need to pay for roaming before may be the most offended by this possible development of events. It is quite possible that they will pay for possible losses of leading operators. Plus, the situation will also affect regions where traditionally servicing subscribers was cheaper than in large cities. Tariffs across the country may level out. Time will tell which path cellular operators and MTS, in particular, will take. But at the moment the situation with roaming in Russia is as follows: it will be cancelled, the fee for it will be removed from the tariffs.

Cancellation of roaming in Russia - how to connect

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