Which operators have canceled intranet roaming? National and intranet roaming has been abolished in Russia. How will operator tariffs change?

As they say, less than six months have passed since the last “cancellation of roaming”, which took place on September 1, 2018, when the Internet (and not only) bypassed the latest news about the cancellation of intranet roaming.

Is canceling roaming good?

Yes, sure!It won't be cheaper!

Indeed, just the other day another law was adopted to abolish intranet roaming. Let's look at its nuances in more detail.

Draft law on the abolition of intranet roaming in Russia

On December 19, 2018, the State Duma adopted the corresponding law, which will have to abolish intranet roaming on the territory of the Russian Federation. However, the adoption of the law does not mean that it will immediately come into effect - the law will begin to work only in the summer of 2019, from June 1.

The “saga” with the abolition of this very roaming has been going on for several years now, and particularly attentive subscribers who are not tired of monitoring changes in tariff plans have drawn attention to the fact that the approach to setting tariffs and charging subscription fees in roaming has not been significant during these years. changed.

However, this time the law includes literally several dozen words, a couple of paragraphs of text. However, they are very important because they really give us, ordinary subscribers, a chance for a “bright future” in the world of cellular communications.

The official text of the law can be found at the following link, but I propose to understand in human language what we should expect this coming summer.

From the text of the law the following can be understood:

Since the entry into force of the law, all incoming calls while staying in guest regions within Russia will become free. Moreover, this condition will also apply to national roaming (subject to the registration of a subscriber of one operator, for example, MTS, in the network of the guest region of another operator, for example, Beeline). However, knowing the behavior of the leading cellular operators in the Russian Federation, it is quite reasonable to assume that they will try with all their might to circumvent this limitation;
From now on the wording “Region of presence” will become official, and this is exactly how, apparently, in the future operators will position our usual guest region of stay. Thus, when entering the region of presence, the subscriber gets the opportunity to be serviced on the terms of his home region, but calls to his real home region, where he entered into an agreement, will be regarded as long-distance. True, another question comes to the fore here - it’s no secret that in some regions communication is cheaper or more expensive than in others. In this case, what prevents subscribers from a conventionally “expensive” region from going to a conventionally “cheap” region, drawing up an agreement there, getting a SIM card and returning to their home region, using communications there on more favorable terms? Perhaps this is another task that domestic operators will have to solve over the next six months;
Long distance calls are here to stay, I operators will continue to receive significant profits from such calls. One can even assume that the cost of such services will be increased, or the number of long-distance minute quotas in packages will be reduced, since operators will probably want to somehow compensate for the abolition of roaming within the country. Therefore, it is important to roughly outline for yourself the boundaries between roaming and long-distance calls, realizing that these are two “big differences”;
Will not spread, most likely law also applies to residents of the Crimean peninsula, and for operators this territory will remain foreign, where national roaming conditions will apply. Thus, you should not hope for cheap calls to Crimea even if you stay on the territory of the peninsula;
Incoming calls in Crimea, judging by the wording of the law, will become free, and in the text of the law all this will be spelled out in black and white;
The law also applies to regional operators, who may have a hard time. However, again, returning to the operating algorithms of Russian operators, it is hard to believe that they will not try to compensate for losses at the expense of their subscribers. On the one hand, when leaving the home region, operators can set any price tags for long-distance calls; on the other hand, they are obliged to provide subscribers with free incoming calls, and that’s all they need.

In the end

Summarizing the above, we can assume that, finally, we have (almost) waited for the moment when incoming calls while roaming around the country will become free.

However, what other pitfalls can await us, ordinary subscribers who regularly pay the subscription fee, we can only guess. We can only expect the emergence of new tariffs and clarifications from operators, the revision of existing tariff packages and the sending of familiar tariff plans to the archive.

But all this will happen later, closer to the middle/end of spring, and now all you have to do is be patient and have money in your account if you are planning a trip outside your home region for the New Year holidays.

Roaming has ceased to operate in Russia - mobile operators have told the NHS about the conditions under which subscribers will now talk when traveling.

“On August 20, Beeline was the first to cancel fees for incoming calls from other regions when traveling around Russia on the Beeline network. Previously, incoming long-distance calls when outside the region were paid by the subscriber in the amount of 5 rubles per minute. On older package tariffs, incoming calls were free. Now all incoming calls outside the connection region are free for individual subscribers in the Beeline network, regardless of the tariff plan and payment system. This condition applies to all regions of Russia where the Beeline network operates.

The changes that occurred in August affected only incoming calls. Internet, SMS and outgoing calls are charged as at home on all tariffs starting from April,”

The representative of the Beeline company for external communications in Siberia and the Far East, Yana Nazarova, reported.

He also noted that new tariffs for intranet roaming will be valid in all regions of Russia, except for the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, where MegaFon does not have its own network.

“If a MegaFon subscriber moves from Novosibirsk to Yekaterinburg, he will make calls to Yekaterinburg numbers at the same rate as he used to call in Novosibirsk - that is, either spend his package of minutes, or call for about 2 rubles per minute ( if he has a tariff without a monthly fee).

But calls back to Novosibirsk, on the contrary, will be charged as long-distance calls for the subscriber during his stay in another region.

If, on the subscriber’s tariff, long-distance calls are already included in his package of minutes, he will not incur any additional costs at all,” Ivonin clarified.

MOSCOW, June 1 - RIA Novosti. In Russia, amendments to the Law “On Communications” came into force on June 1, according to which roaming within the country should be abolished. The corresponding decree was signed by the Chairman of the Russian Government, Dmitry Medvedev, on May 27.

According to the document, the cost of communication services will not depend on the region in which the subscriber is located. Cellular operators will be able to charge subscribers for incoming calls only if they are outside the country; free incoming calls are now legally established throughout Russia. With the same document, the Cabinet of Ministers established free incoming calls throughout Russia and Crimea.

In fact, the Big Four operators (MTS, Megafon, Beeline and Tele2) have not charged additional fees for communication services when traveling within Russia since the middle of last year, in compliance with the resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS). This is now enshrined in government decree.

Thus, a subscriber traveling from his home region to any point in Russia is not required to purchase additional options in the region of arrival: minutes of calls and gigabytes of Internet traffic are consumed according to the connected tariff. According to analysts, mobile operators have already transferred more than two-thirds of their customers to package offers.

The problem of intercity charges can be solved if you choose a tariff plan with a package of minutes throughout Russia: all calls, including those originating from outside your home region, will be paid as part of the package.

The path to cancel roaming

Previously, Russia had several types of roaming: national, intranet and separately within Crimea. Intranetwork roaming worked within a specific network throughout the country and differed by region. National acted when a certain operator’s network was not available in any region.

The elimination of roaming was preceded by many years of discussions.

In 2017, the FAS issued a warning to the Big Four and demanded that they solve the problem of unreasonably high prices for intranet roaming, which actually meant its abolition. This dispute ended in August last year, when all market players complied with the regulator's requirements.

The process of canceling national roaming proceeded in parallel and was completed faster. In August 2017, the FAS opened cases against the largest operators; in March, the violations were eliminated and the cases were closed.

Cancellation of roaming within the EAEU

Russia has intensified work on the gradual abolition of roaming within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Deputy Prime Minister Maxim Akimov said earlier at a meeting with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

The cancellation of roaming in Russia will take place during the peak holiday season - from June 1, 2020. Subscribers will no longer need to spend additional money on communications when traveling around Russia.

The law on the abolition of roaming in Russia was adopted by the State Duma on January 19, 2018. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin signed the Order to amend Articles 46 and 54 of the Federal Law “On Communications” on December 21, 2018.

If all mobile operators unconditionally begin to implement the Presidential Decree, then the location of the subscriber in the Russian Federation will not affect the cost of calls. That is, in other constituent entities of the Russian Federation the same tariffs will apply as in the home region. The concept of home region for calls/SMS/mobile Internet will lose its relevance; it will mean the whole country.

Reasons for cancellation

The Antimonopoly Service has been raising the issue of abolishing domestic roaming for cellular communications for a long time, but not all major operators wanted to accept the new rules of the game. It was necessary to approve this at the highest legislative level. Therefore, a corresponding bill was developed, which the President had to sign to amend the current law “On Communications”.

Reasons for changes in rules for mobile operators:

For users, changing prices outside the region is unprofitable and inconvenient: if a subscriber goes on a business trip or goes to visit his parents in another region, he had to overpay for communications or buy another SIM card.
Many countries have already abandoned domestic roaming: the USA, the EU (in 2017, tariffs are the same for all member countries of the union).
The reason for operators to inflate prices has disappeared - previously, for connections outside the region, a federal intermediary was used, but now this is not the case.
By canceling domestic roaming, mobile communication providers will not lose much, since this type of revenue accounts for about 1.5% of revenue. And according to Sberbank CIB estimates, the average revenue per subscriber in 2020 will increase by 2.6%, taking into account the loss of 2% from domestic roaming, that is, the loss will be compensated by new prices.

Nuances for intranet, national and international

The following types of roaming are used in the mobile communications market:

In-network – when moving around the country, the network does not change, but the tariffs change, and the operator charges more money for the same services.
National - if there is no coverage of the subscriber’s network in the subscriber’s territory, then the phone is registered in another network and the tariffs increase.
International – the subscriber is located outside of Russia and uses the network of a foreign operator. Works on the GSM standard. Experts predict a reduction in operators’ income from this type of communication as well – most users increasingly prefer instant messengers and social networks when they are abroad.
Interstandard – the use of networks of different standards.
Data roaming – allows the user to transfer data using various technologies.

The abolition of national roaming marks the end of the long-distance tariff for mobile phones, the application of a single all-Russian pricing for each package offer.

When will the abolition law come into force?

The State Duma abolished roaming in December 2018, but gave market participants the opportunity to change technologies, documents and marketing policies - it allocated six months for preparation. From January 1, companies are developing new tariff proposals, without taking into account regional roaming, since the law will come into force in the second half of 2020, and the FAS will be able to fine for violations in the amount of all illegally received income.

The Antimonopoly Service will closely monitor mobile operators and will respond with penalties if prices for services are unlawfully inflated.

From what date should you actually cancel roaming?

This is not the first year in our country that the issue of equal tariffs for mobile calls throughout the Russian Federation has been discussed; the law has already been signed, but for many the question is not yet closed: from what date will roaming within Russia be cancelled? Recent news indicates that the main market players have come to terms with the new rules and are actively working in this direction. From June 1, 2020, users will be able to use the services without territorial restrictions.

Will Megafon, MTS, Tele2 and Beeline cancel roaming?

The main mobile service providers will most likely cancel domestic roaming from 06/01/19, they have several reasons for this:

To prevent potential customers from leaving for competitors, it is necessary to create favorable conditions;
major players have been moving in this direction for a long time, creating tariffs with the same prices for all regions;
the antimonopoly service brought the issue under serious control;
the additional profit from this service is negligible for many operators;
Lost profits can be compensated if fees for other services increase.

Today the market situation is as follows:

Almost all players have canceled fees for incoming calls in the Russian Federation.
The assortment portfolio of many contains offers without reference to their home region.

How will operator tariffs change?

The news that roaming is being canceled throughout the Russian Federation undoubtedly pleased many subscribers, as this means:

Free incoming calls.
Free or very cheap calls within the operator’s network to users throughout Russia.
Low prices per minute of conversation with subscribers of other Russian operators.
Cheap outgoing SMS/mms from anywhere in Russia, free incoming messages.
Accessible Internet no matter where you are within the country (subject to coverage).

Will this innovation be beneficial for all mobile subscribers or not? Let's try to figure it out:

This is definitely beneficial for those who often travel outside their home region. But analysts counted only 10-20% of those who use a mobile number outside their home region. Another plus is a small percentage of those who buy a new SIM card for calls in another area.
Almost all market players have tariff offers that include profitable calls throughout the country, but cheap tariffs are designed only for the home region. In most cases, users could choose the optimal tariff for themselves.

To summarize: the abolition of roaming allows you to move around the country and not think about the cost of mobile communications, and call relatives in other regions more often. This is beneficial in the long run for most users. No more than half of subscribers will experience immediate direct benefits from the tariff change. In general, the price of mobile communication services will increase in 2020 - by approximately 2.6% or 9 rubles per month. The price increase in 2020 would have taken place in any case, it will occur due to:

Converting prices to the inflation index.
The desire to compensate for the decrease in income from the loss of domestic roaming and the decrease in revenue from calls abroad.
Some providers will include a planned increase in the VAT rate in the tariff.

How are things going in Crimea?

The new law obliges the abolition of roaming from 06/01/2020 in all regions of the Russian Federation without exception, including Crimea.

In remote regions, it is not easy to equalize the cost of communication, as this will entail significant financial losses for operators:

Large Russian providers are not present in Crimea due to international sanctions; communication services are provided by local players;
Chukotka and Sakhalin, where satellite communications are present, also remain problematic.

At the moment, large operators charge calls to Crimea more expensive than to any other region of Russia, and there is a possibility that this will continue to be the case. There is an option that the state will subsidize operators or push the FAS and the cost of communication in Crimea will be identical to other regions.