PRESS: Moscow wants cheap connection tariffs for ’18 FIFA matches

MOSCOW, Dec 22 (PRIME) -- The Moscow city government could offer special tariffs for mobile connection for visitors of the 2018 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament, which several of the Russian cities host, business daily Vedomosti reported Thursday.

“It could be a special SIM card for guests of the event; and it will be distributed at the airport,” Yelena Novikova, a spokeswoman for the capital city’s IT department, said, adding that tourists could join a single tourist tariff.

Operators would not find it difficult to distribute such new SIM cards, since they will have to compete all the same with the city’s Wi-Fi network, which is being laid by company Enforta upon Moscow’s order, Novikova said.

Enforta will build a free Wi-Fi network within the Garden Ring, although the two Moscow’s stadiums, hosting the events, will be outside the Wi-Fi circle.

The tournament will be held in the country during June 14–July 15, 2018, in 11 cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg. The then-Sport Minister Vitaly Mutko said earlier in 2016 that the event could see 1 million foreigners.

A spokesperson for an operator told the daily that the preparation of infrastructure for such large-scale events results in huge expenses, and the department’s offer to reduce operators’ incomes sounds weird.

Raiffeisenbank’s analyst Sergei Libin said operators usually compensate for all expenses on network upgrade thanks to roaming, whose elimination would be most disadvantageous for them. In case of a single tariff, everything will depend on prices: if they are 10 times lower than in roaming for guests, there will be no profit for operators, the analyst said.

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