Rostelecom to cancel Internet payments in small towns from Aug 1

GORKI, Moscow Region, Jul 26 (PRIME) -- Russian state-controlled telecom operator Rostelecom will abolish payments for the Internet in towns with 250–500 citizens from August 1, CEO Mikhail Oseyevsky told Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday.

“Bridging the digital divide is a very important program. It comprises connecting small towns with 250–500 people, or 14,000 towns in total, to the Internet, and more than a third has been already connected. We decided to cancel payments for such services from August 1 fully,” Oseyevsky said.

Internet connection costs households 45 rubles per month. “We think the payment is not crucial from the point of view of Rostelecom’s revenue, but it will help facilitate access of citizens of these towns to advanced high-quality services significantly,” Oseyevsky said.

Infrastructure expansion is one of the most important vectors in the fulfilment of the digital economy program, which is a core document for Rostelecom. “Besides, we see four other key blocks, which are smart cities, online state services, cybersecurity, and the industrial Internet,” the top manager said.

“We chose these directions as priority. On the whole, we plan to invest more than 300 billion rubles of own money in them during five years.”

The company is ready to equip medical facilities in 2017–2018 with the high-speed Internet, which will contribute to the development of telemedicine. “There are 14,000 facilities in total, and a third will be connected to the Internet this year,” Oseyevsky told Medvedev.

“This year 5 billion rubles were allocated from the government’s reserve fund, and a regulation should be issued now on the order of provision of services…The budget does not have an amount for next year. The budget is being formed, but it will be 15–17 billion rubles.”

(59.8185 rubles – U.S. $1)

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