Ministry offers higher SIM cards standard with 83 bln rbl extra cost

MOSCOW, Aug 17 (PRIME) -- The Digital Development Ministry wants to oblige Russian connection operators to use cryptographic means of protection of subscribers’ identification, meaning higher requirements to SIM cards, which may cost over 83 billion rubles, according to the ministry’s draft order released on Friday.

The new system is supposed to protect the information carried by connection networks from unsanctioned access. According to the draft, encoding means must comply with requirements of the Federal Security Service.

Such means of protection can be designed within two years, the Economic Development Ministry said in its conclusion on the draft, referring to InfoTecs, a local information protection company, and the Lebedev Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Engineering.

The draft does not apply to SIM cards purchased by connection operators before the rule takes effect.

The economic ministry said the initiative means that operators will have to buy equipment worth 3.2 million rubles per unit. The digital ministry thinks only 80 units of such equipment will be needed for the whole market. Mobile operator MegaFon said a unit is required per every 10,000 subscribers.

In such a way, expenses of the country’s 260 million subscribers may reach 83.2 billion rubles and expenses on strengthening of crypto protection will consume 700 million rubles.

The economic ministry said that regulation to replace the SIM cards could be of a targeted character to reduce expenses without losing effectiveness. “We find it necessary to set a transitional period of at least two years after official publication of the order,” the ministry said.

(66.8932 rubles – U.S. $1)

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