Rostelecom to zero tariffs for Wi-Fi use in small towns from Aug 1

MOSCOW, Jul 27 (PRIME) -- Russian state-controlled telecom operator Rostelecom has specified that it will cancel payments for the high-speed Internet distributed via Wi-Fi hotspots, built under the digital divide bridging project, in small rural towns with 250–500 people from August 1, the company said late on Wednesday, quoting its President Mikhail Oseyevsky.

Oseyevsky proposed the initiative at a meeting with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who welcomed the move.

Starting from August, the Internet at Wi-Fi points of access, which are built to provide universal connection services in remote areas, will be free of charge, which is now at 45 rubles per month.

Rostelecom has been the single operator of universal connection services in the country since 2014. “We’ve accumulated experience, gathered and analyzed feedback from administrations, common users, and drew a conclusion that we can zero tariffs for Wi-Fi hotspots built under the project,” Oseyevsky said.

“We see that small towns, especially remote, have limitations by the number of points to accept payments. As a rule, they don’t have either bank or post branches, automated teller machines or terminals.”

During 18 months of work, hotspots handled 6.2 million Internet sessions with a total traffic of more than 727 terabytes. Data transfer speed is at least 10 megabits per second.

(59.9102 rubles – U.S. $1)

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