Expert: Mobile connection prices may rise 10–15% by end 2022

MOSCOW, Jul 26 (PRIME) -- The price of Russian mobile connection may rise by 10–15% until the end of 2022, while in some regions the operators may dump their services to provoke an uneven increase of tariffs, Alexander Sivolobov, deputy head of the Skoltech-based center of excellence of the National Technology Initiative, told PRIME on Tuesday. 

Sivolobov reiterated that Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev capped in June the  prices by the consumer price index with the upper end fixed at 17–20%.

“Nobody knows how the operators will behave in these limits. The prices may decrease in some places, new options may appear in some tariffs to raise revenue,” the expert said.

The operators need money for investment because Russia “lags behind by the mobile Internet speed” but “the operators and the regulator can do nothing about it as the people’s incomes do not allow them to hike prices,” Sivolobov said.

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