Crimeans fear shutdown of Ukrainian mobile operators and Internet providers, – media
Simferopol, June 30 (Navigator, Evgeniy Andreev) – The grounds for fear of being left without communications and the Internet during the transition period are not unfounded for Crimeans who rushed en masse to buy Russian SIM cards “just in case.”
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The newspaper “Krymskaya Pravda” writes about this.
“Rumors that Ukrainian mobile operators are preparing to shut down their towers in Crimea have been circulating for a long time,” the publication notes. “When we asked to confirm or deny information about the likely termination of work at MTS Ukraine and Kyivstar, we were given evasive answers.”
MTS confirmed to newspaper reporters that there are indeed problems, but there is no talk of the fact that the provision of services will be stopped in the coming days.
“Today no one can say how the situation will develop further. Therefore, we will refrain from making assumptions and forecasts for the distant future. Recently, we have been faced with increasing difficulties in servicing subscribers. The restriction on the circulation of the hryvnia on the peninsula creates serious problems both for us and for subscribers... But, despite all the difficulties, as long as the legislation allows and as long as it is technically possible, we will provide services to our Crimean subscribers,” the press service of the Ukrainian telecom operator assured .
The Kyivstar company gave a similar answer.
“They are experiencing the same problems. Their essence boils down to the fact that the Russian ruble became the official currency of Crimea from June 1. Kyiv disagrees. They continue to insist that Crimea is part of Ukraine, which means that all payments must be made in Ukrainian currency. It is impossible to reach a consensus. Companies that sell mobile operators electricity that powers communication towers, and landlords that provide land and premises for the same towers, do not accept hryvnia. De-energized transmitters fail. The quality of the connection is imperceptible, but still drops. There is a possibility that sooner or later there will be no Ukrainian mobile communications in Crimea,” states Krymskaya Pravda.
It is too early to activate the Russian starter packs that have appeared on the peninsula:
“Crimea is still in roaming. There are few people willing to overpay. According to the Minister of Communications and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation Nikolai Nikiforov, roaming on the peninsula will be turned off after the number of Russian mobile numbers in Crimea reaches “critical mass.” This will happen soon. To date, more than 200 thousand starter packages have been sold.”
Crimean Internet users who are served by Ukrainian providers are also uneasy. So, it is still not clear what to do for users of the “Home Internet” from Kyivstar.
“How long the company will provide services is unknown. A burning question for clients of this provider is how to pay for the Internet if the company only accepts hryvnias, which are hard to find in Crimea during the day? As the Kyivstar press service told us, payment can be made at the company’s service centers with the assistance of dealers located there. If you want Ukrainian Internet, overpay the intermediaries,” the newspaper writes.
The situation with the Internet “OGO” from Ukrtelecom is somewhat different:
In June, after Crimea finally switched to the ruble, subscribers of this provider received a “payment”, which indicated where and how they could pay for services. It seems to be a normal situation. If not for one “but”. The Crimean regional branch of Ukrtelecom was nationalized after the March events and, in fact, became Krymtelecom. It is this enterprise that now provides landline telephone services and Internet traffic to former Ukrtelecom subscribers in Crimea.
In the Kiev office of the company they simply want to extract money as much as possible from gullible Crimeans.”
Having called the Krymtelecom help desk, Krymskaya Pravda found out that the company is now undergoing the re-registration procedure.
“They strongly recommend not to pay bills that are sent from Kyiv. When asked if the Internet and landline telephone number would be disconnected for non-payment, we were assured that there was no need to worry about this. There will be no shutdowns. More detailed information will be available in a month, when the re-registration procedure is completed,” the newspaper informs.
English version :: Read in English Crimeans fear shutdown of Ukrainian mobile operators and Internet providers, – media