Experts: Third of Russian households cannot afford home Web

MOSCOW, Jul 15 (PRIME) -- Almost a third of Russian households cannot afford the home Internet while mobile operators offer cheaper options of the same quality, telecom experts told PRIME on Friday.

“According to (news and research agency) TelecomDaily, penetration of the Internet among households exceeds 61%. A significant part of it is presented by the mobile Internet used at home because the current speed of LTE Advanced ensures high-quality signal and service,” the agency’s head Denis Kuskov said.

The average price of the Internet in the country is among the world’s lowest at 450–460 rubles per month, but with the average salary of 17,000 rubles it is a lot.

Denis Kuvikov, head of regional engineering center SafeNet of the National Technology Initiative, said an average regional salary varies broadly and the price of Internet services is not cheap. “Not every family can afford the home Internet. Mobile operators, on the contrary, provide more loyal tariff offers,” he said.

The Federal State Statistics Service said earlier that 28.6% of the country’s households do not have the home Internet, and most of them cannot afford the service.

(74.1236 rubles – U.S. $1)

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