Fixed telephony operators may lose clients

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MOSCOW (RIA Novosti political commentator Yana Yurova).

Last week Russian phone communication operators experienced a real shock after Deputy Minister of Information Technologies and Communications Boris Antonyuk said that starting from July 1 all phone calls from stationary telephones to mobile ones will be paid. The approximate tariff would be 1.8 rubles a minute. So far such calls have been free in |Russia.

The so-called American pattern, when incoming calls are chargeable, is mostly used in Russia. Of course, some cell communication operators, such as Bee Line, have made incoming calls from cell phones free of charge. But calls from fixed phones to cell ones are always paid for by the recipient.

Changing over to the European pattern, when the call is paid for by the initiator, has been discussed since 2000. However, the problem is that local fixed phone calls are still not charged per minute and one can make an unlimited number of local calls paying a fixed monthly subscriber's charge (about $6 in Moscow). Given this fact, the authorities could not figure out how to charge calls to federal cell phone numbers, which are rated as local calls.

Several months ago the government started to unravel the tangle of unsolvable problems by adopting a document, Rules for Linking Telecommunication Networks, which provides for a zone communication operator as an intermediary between fixed phone and cell phone communications. Accordingly, every call from a fixed phone to a cell phone will be effected via the intermediary, classified as zonal and charged at a particular rate.

Last week saw a sudden development of the issue, with the government approving the Rules for Offering Local, Zonal, Long-Distance and International Communication Services. This document is to introduce the pattern of charging calls from fixed phones to cell ones from July 1.

Shocked with the news, operators of both fixed and mobile phone communication systems announced they were not ready to switch over to a new pattern of work. Absurdly, the situation is not ripe for this government decision. Cell communication operators have no license to offer zonal communication services. And it takes some time and effort to obtain one. Besides, calls from fixed phones to cell phones do not fall under any of the existing tariff zones. There are no rules for charging such calls either. All in all, the reform needs thorough elaboration, from the signing of new contracts between operators to the adjustment of billing systems.

Even the Federal Tariff Service was surprised at the ministry's haste. According to the service, the government must first approve new rules for mutual accounts between operators and principles of tariff adjustment, first of all. Only then will it be reasonable to calculate the charge for a minute of such communication and start implementing the reform.

That made functionaries at the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications slow down. Director of the State Policy Department at the ministry Vitaly Slizen said the fixed phone users would pay for calls on mobile phones no sooner than September. It means that sooner or later the new system will come into effect.

What Russian people should expect then? On the one hand, it will be a sensible decision for cell phone users, because today they have to pay even for undesired incoming calls. On the other hand, they will not necessarily get that advantage, because no one in Russia can make cellular operators abolish payment for incoming calls. Consequently, Russia may face an ugly transitional model, when both callers and recipients will have to pay for calls.

However, the reform may be protracted for a long time, because it is bound to overturn the market of Russian communications, which does not suit all the players. Apparently, the innovation will affect the interests of the monopolist Svyazinvest, which unites regional fixed telephony operators. Indeed, in addition to waiting for his or her turn in order to install a fixed phone at home, paying a $200 installation fee and monthly user's tariff, one will be charged for calling to cell phones. It would be more reasonable to use a cell phone instead. It costs approximately the same amount, but it is more convenient, as one is always available. In other words, fixed communication operators are running the risk of losing clients.

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