PRESS: Russian operators cut tariffs for calls to Lugansk, Donetsk

MOSCOW, Jun 7 (PRIME) -- The Russian mobile operators do not mainly define calls to numbers of mobile operators in the Lugansk and Donetsk people’s republics and the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions as internal, but the Digital Development Ministry said the operators agreed to set tariffs as those inside the country, business daily Kommersant reported on Tuesday.

The daily said that VimpelCom, working under brand Beeline, introduced new tariffs since May 31 for connection with the operators of the republics of Lugansk and Donetsk – Lugakom and Feniks – and a new operator working in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, +7Telekom, controlled by Crimean operator K-Telecom. VimpelCom classifies calls as international but charges only 3 rubles per minute and SMS.

The Digital Development Ministry confirmed that VimpelCom cut tariffs for outcoming calls to numbers of the republics of Lugansk and Donetsk to 3 rubles per minute from 25 rubles.

VimpelCom’s sole owner, Amsterdam-headquartered VEON also holds the largest Ukrainian operator Kyivstar, and “the parent company cannot take one side trying to keep business here and there,” Raiffeisenbank analyst Sergei Libin said.

T2 RTK Holding, working as Tele2, said it will classify calls to the areas as inter-city ones.

MTS said that it will set calls to the numbers of the operators of the republics of Lugansk and Donetsk as inter-city and calls to the +7Telekom numbers as international. The tariffs will be announced later.

(61.1094 rubles – U.S. $1)

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