PRESS: Proposed priority of domestic services to add load on nets

MOSCOW, Apr 1 (PRIME) -- Priority access to domestic Internet services in Russia in the period of self-isolation, suggested by deputy Anton Gorelkin, may raise load on networks, business daily Kommersant reported on Wednesday.

Gorelkin proposed for the self-quarantine period to prioritize traffic of domestic sites and services, but the initiative may provoke problems for connection operators and subscribers, experts and market participants told the daily.

According to the suggestion, in case of overload on connection networks because of the public’s switching to remote work, quality of access to Facebook, Twitter, and Telegram and other services, which fail to obey the country’s law, may worsen.

The deputy shared his ideas with the Digital Development Ministry and the Federal Antimonopoly Service, and they confirmed their receipt.

The Russian Association for Electronic Communications’ (RAEC) senior analyst Karen Kazaryan said the suggestion has been on the mind of certain market players, and the fact that half of the teachers in the country now give lessons via foreign services Zoom, Skype or WhatsApp is not taken into consideration.

Industry resource Content Review’s head Sergei Polovnikov said the initiative may cause problems for long-distance providers, like Rostelecom, ER-Telecom, and TransTeleCom.

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