The head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), Alexander Shokhin, proposed to the government the “Accessible Internet” project with free access to socially significant resources to be paid at the expense of citizens. Experts disagree with this wording and suggest that all parties sit down at the negotiating table.
The Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications launched an experiment of the project "Accessible Internet" on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation in April 2020. Free access to a package of Russian socially significant services is provided to Internet users from the largest telecom operators. The initiative started during the COVID-19 epidemic in Russia and was extended until December 31, 2020. The ministry considered that in the remaining months it was necessary to analyze and discuss the results obtained with the business.
At the disposal of the Federal News Agency (FAN) was a letter from the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) addressed to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, in which Alexander Shokhin expresses fears of extending the experiment and asks to legislatively provide for compensation for the costs of cellular operators at the expense of citizens. Industrialists propose not only to allow telecom operators to charge citizens a minimum fee for access to "Accessible Internet", but also to turn it off if the balance is negative.
Experts interviewed by FAN expressed doubts about the implementation of such an idea.
Unlimited access will change user behavior
In a letter dated July 13, signed by the head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Alexander Shokhin, it is noted that the "Accessible Internet" project may entail significant losses and costs for the leading Russian companies providing Internet access. This is the conclusion reached by the RSPP Commission on Communications and Information and Communication Technologies. Industrialists write that the initiative may lead to a drop in investment activity of market participants and slow down the development of communication network infrastructure.
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In the appendix to the main letter, the public figures also provide such data that the additional costs of each participant in the experiment for the purchase and installation of equipment amounted to up to 100 million rubles, and for service and technical support - up to 20 million rubles. At the same time, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs does not hide the fact that the information on costs is of an estimate nature and is not tied to the financial statements of companies (this is written in a note in the document). There are also no details about what kind of equipment we are talking about and the expediency of purchasing it within the framework of the "Accessible Internet" project.
The main document also notes that the absence of established criteria for assigning resources "leads to a voluntaristic assignment of such resources." A study of the Internet sites participating in the experiment showed that over 75% of the main network load comes from resources containing streaming video content.
A number of initiatives are attached to the letter, among which the RSPP proposes to legally provide for compensation for the costs and losses of telecom operators in connection with the implementation of "Accessible Internet". Also, industrialists consider it permissible to establish by a regulatory legal act the ability to charge citizens a minimum fee for access to socially significant resources. At the same time, it is proposed to allow the termination of the provision of services with a negative balance or debt.
In addition, the RUIE considers it important to approve the criteria for classifying resources as domestic socially significant Internet services. Among the criteria: limitation of foreign ownership (up to 20%), content of Russian origin in Russian and languages of the regions of the Russian Federation, expressed public interest. It is also proposed to determine the technical requirements and mechanisms of interaction between telecom operators and owners of these resources.
Free internet - the imperative of the time
The dispute about who should pay for the development of infrastructure and pumping traffic is old, like the Internet itself, the head of the Association for Electronic Communications (RAEC) Sergey Plugotarenko is convinced.
According to the head of RAEC, the digital world (and the world of providers) lives according to the laws of commerce and competition. At the same time, there are backbone social services that, obviously, can be deduced from this rule.
According to Plugotarenko, the initiative to allow operators to charge subscribers for access to "Accessible Internet" at first glance sounds very strange, and puts an end to the concept itself.
Sergei Grebennikov, director of the Regional Public Center for Internet Technologies (ROCIT), agrees with the expert's opinion. In the conversation, he said that he considered the idea of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs to provide "Accessible Internet" at the expense of the Russians wrong.
Note that the list of socially significant resources with free access consists of 19 categories - "Social networks", "Email, instant messengers and cloud storage of files", "Weather", "Search", "Online media and news aggregators", "Maps, transport”,“Auto”,“Culture, literature, art”,“Education and training”,“Health and healthy lifestyle”,“Science”,“Sport”,“Government agencies and services”,“Information systems”,“Work and Career "," Finance "," Delivery "," Aggregators and Marketplaces "and" Social and Volunteer Services ".
Subscribers of Rostelecom, MTS, Vimpelcom, Megafon and ER-Telecom can get gratuitous access to these resources.
However, in June the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications reduced the list from 391 to 371. The State procurement website, several services in the field of webinars and dedicated to health, as well as some other sites were removed. At the same time, the list was supplemented with text versions of TV channels' websites and a portal of national projects.
The editorial office sent inquiries to the government, the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications and the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, at the time of publication, replies from the government had not yet been received, and the Ministry of Communications stated that they were not familiar with the contents of the letter.
The vice-president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Sergey Mytenkov explained to FAN that the problem of "Accessible Internet", which telecom operators faced, were discussed at the meetings of the profile commission. According to him, the main difficulty is that Internet access cannot be free, "since there is always traffic that someone has to pay for."
So, for example, in order for the traffic to be minimal, it is necessary to adapt the sites, explained Mytenkov.
The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs expressed the hope that the initiative will be “understood and heard”.