Russian antitrust hopes inter-network roaming to end in 2017

MOSCOW, Dec 6 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service expects the inter-network roaming to be cancelled in 2017, Deputy Director Anatoly Golomolzin told reporters on Tuesday.

“We’ve reached an agreement with our colleagues from the Communications and Mass Media Ministry and the Federal Service for Oversight of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare that all the community will cancel the notion of inter-network roaming, because the notion does not comply with the regulations and the essence of the services provided,” Golomolzin said.

“It means, when a subscriber moves from one region of a connection operator to another region of the operator, it has nothing to do with roaming. The subscriber is in the same network.”

The inter-roaming cancellation procedure could take six months, and changes will be introduced into orders of the communications ministry.

The antimonopoly service thinks that incoming calls in roaming across Russia should be free, the official said.

In the national roaming, subscribers receiving services in the network of other operators should not see huge difference as well, Golomolzin said.

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