Russia to shut almost all points of Internet access in towns in 2016

SOCHI, Oct 24 (PRIME) -- Russia will close almost all points of collective access to the Internet, opened in small towns with population from 500 people, in 2016 due to the lack of funding, Communications and Mass Media Minister Nikolai Nikiforov told reporters Monday.

The matter of shutting down the points is tackled by each of the country’s 85 regions individually. The facilities will remain in very small towns, which lack other means of communications, Nikiforov said.

The country has 21,000 points in towns with 500 people and more and 148,000 public telephone boxes in remote towns and villages. They are financed from the universal service fund, to which all operators of the country contribute 1.2% of their revenue.

The fund has been also financing the project of bridging the digital divide since 2014, which stipulates the provision of small towns with 250–500 people with the Internet. The initiative is pursued by state-controlled operator Rostelecom. The fund annually collects some 14 billion rubles, but Rostelecom did not get 6.9 billion rubles from it in 2016 to carry out the projects, since the budget cut down compensations.

Nikiforov said the priority is placed on public telephones, then goes the digital divide and then the points of access to the Internet, which are losing grounds among the expansion of computers and smartphones.

“Today the smartphone is used in 63% of cases of surfing the Internet. People use various means, but neither the desktop nor the laptops are leaders anymore. The world has dramatically changed, and unfortunately, funding of points of access will be curbed down in these conditions,” the minister said.

(62.4499 rubles – U.S. $1)

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