Russia Is Running Out Of Money For The Development Of Communication Systems
- 10.08.2025, 13:57
The reason is the lack of funds for maintenance and infrastructure development due to sanctions.
The Big Four operators - MTS, Megafon, Beeline and T2 - have called on the government to block voice calls in foreign messengers, including WhatsApp and Telegram, writes The Moscow Times. The initiative was announced during a strategic session on the development of the communications industry at the end of May, according to the source Careful Media in the Cabinet. Operators explained their proposal by the lack of funds for infrastructure maintenance and development. They drew attention to the increase in costs and equipment prices due to sanctions, as well as the sharp growth of mobile traffic. According to them, all this threatens to reduce the pace of network development and slow down the Internet, especially in megacities, given that the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) opposed a multiple increase in tariffs for subscribers.
Operators are also concerned that they want to be obliged to compensate for damage from fraudsters for missed suspicious traffic. In this regard, they consider complete blocking of calls through messengers the best solution to the problem, citing the experience of the United Arab Emirates. The operators repeated their request at the summer meetings at the Ministry of Digitization. In their opinion, such a step will return traffic from messengers to regular voice calls, which will positively affect the financial condition of service providers, reduce the level of cyber fraud and prevent the complete blocking of WhatsApp and Telegram. The publication's sources among operators note that so far the Ministry has not supported the proposal, but discussions are ongoing.
In June, it became known that the Ministry proposed to establish a ban on calls from foreign SIM cards. According to the idea, it will be introduced by default - the subscriber will have to contact his mobile operator if he wants to unblock the function. Also, operators want to oblige to label all calls from foreign SIM cards. In addition, they will have to disconnect numbers suspected of fraud and enter them into a special register. At the same time, the Ministry of Digitalization will have the right to demand recordings of such phone calls.