The largest Russian telecom operators – MegaFon and Beeline – began introducing fees for the unlimited mobile internet option for users of outdated tariff plans at the beginning of 2026. This is reported by Forbes, citing internal sources.
MegaFon started charging a monthly fee for unlimited internet from the third ten-day period of January: 25 or 99 rubles, depending on the specific archived tariff. Subscribers were given the opportunity to opt out of the new option, but in this case, re-enabling unlimited access will become impossible.
VimpelCom (Beeline brand) made similar changes as early as January 1: for some customers using old tariffs, activating unlimited internet now costs 4.5 rubles per day. As with MegaFon, disabling the option deprives you of the ability to restore it later. These steps coincided with the traditional wave of tariff increases at the beginning of the year.
Representatives of the operators explained the changes by the growth of inflation, the increase in the VAT rate to 22%, as well as the need to finance measures to combat fraud. MegaFon stated that the price adjustment is aimed at bringing the cost of services in line with the current economic and market conditions. MTS, in turn, emphasized that additional funds will be used to modernize the network infrastructure and prepare for the launch of 5G technologies.
