The Ministry of Digital Development will create a single mobile operator for four new regions

MOSCOW, Feb 10 – PRIME. The Ministry of Digital Development of Russia has been instructed to create a single mobile operator that will cover the territories of four new regions, at the moment, communication tariffs in the regions are at the level of all-Russian ones, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko told RIA Novosti.

“The Ministry of Digital Transformation has been instructed to create a single mobile operator that will cover the territories of four new entities,” Chernyshenko said.

According to him, the task of the government is to provide citizens living in the new territories with high-quality communication services at the level of all-Russian standards.

“At the moment, work has been organized to monitor the quality of mobile communications, collect feedback from residents. Tariffs are currently at the level of the all-Russian ones,” the Deputy Prime Minister noted.

The Deputy Prime Minister also noted that the Russian government is working on the restoration and development of communication networks in new regions, within the framework of this program, the Ministry of Digital Transformation was instructed to build more than 1.5 thousand cellular communication base stations by March 2024.

“Now we are solving the problem of restoring and developing communication networks in new regions, for this we involve both local and federal companies. The Ministry of Digital Development has been instructed to build more than 1.5 thousand base stations in new regions by March next year.”

According to him, work is also underway to integrate the communications and IT industries “into the Russian legal field.” The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that operators will be able to take advantage of all available support measures. These are a reduction in spectrum fees, a moratorium on inspections and licensing requirements for LTE, a reduction in the property tax rate, land tax, rent under state and municipal property lease agreements for communication facilities.

“Thus, the growth of the digital industry and the investment activity of new territories will be stimulated,” the Deputy Prime Minister explained.

At the end of December last year, the Ministry of Digital Development reported that the MirTelecom and +7Telecom operators would continue to operate in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, the Republican Telecom Operator (Phoenix brand) would operate in the DPR, and Mobile Communications Systems would operate in the LPR (brand “Lugakom”). In mid-January, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Digital Transformation Dmitry Kim told RIA Novosti that the agency believes that mobile operators MirTelecom and +7Telecom will enter the DPR market.