The Russian company has become ashamed of Crimea
Russian mobile operators have committed to operating in Crimea, but have received tacit permission not to operate on the peninsula.
The Moscow publication Kommersant writes about this, pointing out that this week users of social networks drew attention to the description of the tariff option of the cellular operator Tele2 “Internet on the Peninsula”.
The operator promises that the client will no longer incur “any unexpected expenses on the peninsula,” and the subscription fee of 300 rubles will be charged only on those days when he “uses the Internet on the peninsula.” One can assume, the newspaper continues, that we are not talking about Kamchatka, Taimyr or the Kola Peninsula, but about Crimea, but this is clear only from the full description of the service on the operator’s website.
“Operators, gritting their teeth, continue to endure the hardships of the lack of their own networks in Crimea, including the need for roaming payments to local partners, although the authorities have long ago created all the formal conditions for entering the Big Four region. All four largest operators have licenses valid until 2022 to provide mobile radiotelephone services in the territory including Crimea. Moreover, under the terms of issuing these licenses, the Big Four should have already begun providing communication services there,” the publication notes.
A high-ranking official told reporters that, apparently, the inclusion of Crimea in the list of regions where licenses are valid at one time became a condition for their issuance, but at the same time, companies were secretly allowed not to work in Crimea due to the serious risk of foreign sanctions being applied to them.
At the same time, the newspaper notes that it is not entirely clear why Tele2 suddenly began to be shy about mentioning Crimea right now.
“Even before the beginning of March, the operator quite freely mentioned Crimea in tariff options. The only thing that has changed since then is the deal to consolidate the mobile operator Rostelecom. Perhaps it is in its context that the situation is worth considering. The buyer of Tele2, although under state control, remains a public company with, among other things, foreign investors. It turns out that Tele2 is showing foresight, trying to protect the future shareholder from sanctions risks,” the newspaper summarizes.
Note that the owners of Tele2 Russia, founded by the Swedish group of companies Tele2 AB on the basis of networks acquired in the Russian Federation, are VTB Bank, Rostelecom, SOGAZ and Rossiya Bank. Currently, the network provides services in 67 constituent entities of the Russian Federation.
As PolitNavigator reported, Russian "sanctions" for Crimea turned out to be much more painful than Western ones.
Read also: State Duma deputy: For mobile operators , Crimea is not Russia.
Russian company becomes embarrassed about Crimea