Russia’s MTS CEO: Cell connection should become free in mid-term

MOSCOW, May 31 (PRIME) -- Russian cellular operators should stop charging money from subscribers for their services in the medium-term and start earning on partnerships or advertisements, Andrei Dubovskov, president of MTS, the country’s leading operator by subscribers, said Tuesday at a conference.

“We should not live on the money the client pays for having their necessities satisfied, including messengers, SMS, voice connection, streaming and video connection,” Dubovskov said.

The market has significantly transformed, and operators could earn on partnerships or advertisers. “The topic of the modern telecom development is the level at which we see a natural stage of our transformation not into a partnership (of operators with anyone to develop their services), but in becoming a true party of cooperation.”

“On what does Google earn money when it provides its main service for free? On advertisements and additional services. It’s like an example and not an obligatory model to follow. But it’s very interesting if telecom gravitates toward commodity, and it will be interesting to shape it into a zone of common access, like it was done with the Internet, which is free and generates a huge turnover,” Vasil Latsanich, vice president for marketing at MTS, said.

“Googe is free with all services, but it’s one of the most expensive companies in the world. This model appeals to us,” he said.

Businessman Yevgeny Gordeyev, a managing partner at fund Russian Ventures, said earlier that he is going to launch a free virtual mobile operator, called Atlas, soon.

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