PRESS: Russian makers want tougher terms for foreign IT imports

MOSCOW, Aug 20 (PRIME) -- Russian manufacturers have suggested the government introduce compulsory marking of imported telecom equipment and ban middlemen in the supplies from Cisco, Huawei, and ZTE, business daily Kommersant reported on Monday.

Industry associations and firms also want to get access to customs statistics to reveal “suspicious” transactions, but foreign vendors say the suggested measures would obstruct competition and limit the customer choice.

A group of local companies, including telecom equipment maker Eltex and electronics maker Micran, suggested Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev oblige Huawei, ZTE, Cisco, D-Link, NEC and other foreign suppliers of telecom equipment “to switch to direct importing of their products and reject services of intermediary companies in customs clearing.” The companies think the move will “exclude under-declaration of value-added tax” when importing equipment.

The country’s market of telecom equipment amounted to 250–300 billion rubles in 2017, and was mainly represented by purchases of local leading mobile operators MTS, MegaFon, VimpelCom, and T2 RTK Holding.

The share of national manufacturers does not exceed 6–8% of the total amount, but the country has the necessary equipment to meet demand of connection operators and large customers by at least 85–90%, the companies said in their proposals.

General Director of J’son & Partners Consulting Svetlana Vodyanova said China remains the main supplier of telecom equipment for Russia.

(66.8757 rubles – U.S. $1)

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