PRESS: Officials’ move to local OS Sailfish to cost 160 bln rbl

MOSCOW, Aug 6 (PRIME) -- A gradual switching of Russian officials and employees of state companies to local mobile operating system Sailfish of state-controlled telecom operator Rostelecom will consume over 160 billion rubles, business daily Kommersant reported on Monday.

A government official familiar with the matter told the daily that Sailfish-run smartphones are to be exploited by 7.9 million the central government employees until 2021. Such devices will be also recommended to local governments. A tariff for “the provision of an overall service” for the use of smartphones with Sailfish is supposed to be at 13,100 rubles a year per person.

The Finance Ministry also received a document requiring an additional 2.3 billion rubles to complete the creation of the operating system.

In total, expenses on the gradual transfer of officials to Sailfish will reach about 160.2 billion rubles by the end of 2021, including 71.3 billion rubles from the federal budget, 78.2 billion rubles from the state companies’ coffers, and 10.7 billion rubles from regional budgets.

(63.4549 rubles – U.S. $1)

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