More than 50 million users are at risk of losing access to high-quality and affordable home internet due to a new reform being prepared by the Russian Ministry of Communications. The ministry plans to drastically tighten licensing requirements for providers that supply internet services to residential buildings.
According to the new rules, the cost of a universal license for small operators providing standard home internet could be set at 10 million rubles, and companies would also be required to have at least 100 million rubles in equity. The hardest hit will be individual entrepreneurs, as they will not be issued the new types of licenses at all.
Only large federal companies with annual revenues exceeding 400 million rubles will be able to meet such stringent financial conditions. As a result, thousands of small firms among the nearly 4,700 local operators currently active in the country will be forced to leave the market, and it is possible that not a single local provider will remain in 27 regions of Russia.
Telecom associations are opposing the reform, warning that it will destroy healthy market competition and lead to excessive tariff hikes. The ministry stated that a final decision has not yet been reached and that the changes are currently being discussed with market participants.
