Russian upper house to revise data bill if firms prove price growth

MOSCOW, Jun 30 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Federation Council, the parliament’s upper house, can revise a bill obliging mobile operators and Internet companies to store data on users’ activities and exchanged content, if the companies prove that it will force them to boost tariffs, Viktor Ozerov, head of the security committee at the house, said Thursday.

“The Federation Council will follow the issue closely, and if the operators prove that users of mobile connection and the Internet could face a dramatic growth in tariffs, the Federation Council will again return to the document and amend it in case of necessity,” Ozerov, one of the bill’s authors, told PRIME.

So far, operators’ claims that tariffs would spike if the initiative is adopted are “emotional and lack calculation grounds,” the senator said.

If signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, the initiative will come into force on July 1, 2018, and until then “there is no legal basis” to speak about an increase in tariffs. Mobile operators can set the deadlines, order and volume of information to store together with the government, he said.

Several mobile operators said that they may be forced to double or triple tariffs because of extra expenses they would bear under the move.

The document says operators must store information on calls, text messages, photos, sounds and video exchange on the country’s territory for three years and content of talks and correspondence for up to six months. Internet companies must keep this information for one year.

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