PRESS: Russian govt can give Rostelecom 3.2 bln rbl for digital proj

MOSCOW, Aug 29 (PRIME) -- The Russian government could allocate 3.2 billion rubles more to state-controlled telecom giant Rostelecom for its project of bridging the digital inequality across the country and allow the company to reduce the number of public Internet access points, business daily Vedomosti reported Monday citing sources.

The government is discussing the matter, while Rostelecom expects to receive the money already in 2016, a source close to the operator said.

Several people said the additional financing was mooted at a meeting held by Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich.

Under the state contract signed in 2014 for 10 years, Rostelecom will organize points of access to the Internet in small towns and villages. The project is financed from the universal service fund, to which all operators of the country contribute 1.2% of their revenue.

The fund is expected to accumulate 14.8 billion rubles in 2016, but Rostelecom will get only 7.9 billion rubles from the federal budget. If the company gets no backup finances, funding could be cut by 46% from the plan, Rostelecom’s spokesman Valery Kostarev said earlier.

Rostelecom received 5.8 billion rubles from the reserve of universal servicing in January–June, down 12.2% on the year.

(64.7380 rubles – U.S. $1)

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