Min: Russian econ woes to undermine telecoms income, investment

MOSCOW, Jan 15 (PRIME) -- Incomes of Russian telecommunications operators and their investment programs will contract due to the worsening economic situation in the country, Communications and Mass Media Minister Nikolai Nikiforov said Friday on the sidelines of a forum.

“As for the communications industry, operators will certainly slow down their investment programs because their revenue is in rubles and expenses on equipment are in foreign currencies,” Nikiforov said.

“We don’t expect revenue to fall, but we will see its slower growth rates.”

However, the project of liquidation of digital inequality carried out by state-controlled telecom giant Rostelecom, should be continued at the same rate. “(The project) is financed by the industry itself; it’s important for the country, because it creates prerequisites for a further economic growth,” he said.

The ministry will stick to its position to keep the universal services fund, which fuels the project, untouched. “If we succeed in protecting our position from the Finance Ministry that money of the universal services fund is a target contribution from the industry, construction will develop. Telecom money should not be spent on other industries. It’s a direct regulation of the law on connection,” Nikiforov said.

The authority also reduced its staff, as well as the number of employees of some of its entities by 10%.

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