MegaFon ready to sue antitrust warning to cancel natl roaming

MOSCOW, Jul 24 (PRIME) -- Russian mobile operator MegaFon is ready to contest at court a warning issued by the Federal Antimonopoly Service to mobile operators to cancel payments for national roaming within 14 days, Chief Operating Officer Anna Serebryanikova said on Monday.

“We’re puzzled why the Federal Antimonopoly Service had taken such a strict standing and issued a warning to operators like an ultimatum. We think that the warning cannot be implemented in the period. If the service has questions to our company, we’re ready to discuss them at court,” Serebryanikova said.

On July 17, the antimonopoly service warned four national major mobile operators – MTS, MegaFon, VimpelCom, and T2 RTK Holding – of the need to eliminate what it said is a groundless difference in tariffs in a home region and other regions. The operators should revise tariffs within 14 days and notify subscribers of changes 10 days in advance.

MegaFon has been explaining to the antitrust service why the price of intra-network calls in trips across the country cannot be decreased for several years.

“It’s sad that operators had not been heard,” Serebryanikova said.

Price revision for trips inside a country takes a lot of time. In the E.U., this process took years with potential losses of operators already being partially included into costs of other services.

“The Federal Antimonopoly Service knows the specifics. It’s illogical to give our operators such a short term of two years,” Serebryanikova said.

Tariff aligning needs an unordinary solution, which should be well tested, and MegaFon is working on it now, she said. Some 3,000 tariffs, including old ones, should be revised, and each of them will take up to five working days. The situation is more complicated with corporate and state clients, as contracts with them are signed for a year and more. Changes in these contracts are impossible.

“Certainly, operators won’t be able physically to implement the warning during two weeks, because the changes will paralyze IT services of the companies for several years,” Serebryanikova said.

Roaming in trips across the country has lost its importance. According to MegaFon, only 7% of subscribers move beyond their home region and they use mostly special options or bundle tariffs with flat prices across the country.

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