The FAS has recorded an increase in complaints about unfair practices by telecom operators since the beginning of the year. In practice, the dispute has reached things that an ordinary subscriber can notice: for some companies, according to sources, the call connection time and the maximum duration of calls to a competitor's numbers have decreased. After a meeting of the expert council, the service recommended that operators adjust controversial practices to maintain fair competition. This is reported by "Kommersant".
At the center of the conflict was VimpelCom's promotion. The company promised to pay subscribers 50 kopecks to their mobile phone account for every full minute of conversation if the person answers a call from another mobile operator's number. MegaFon, MTS, and T2 opposed such promotions back in November: in their opinion, they violate the established balance of interests in the market and are aimed at causing losses to other operators.
The essence of the dispute is in interconnect. Operators pay each other for completing calls on their networks. The more calls from numbers of other companies come into an operator's network, the more money it receives. The average rate in the market is about 1 ruble per minute.
A similar conflict already occurred: in 2010, Tele2 reported a sevenfold increase in the cost of calls by its subscribers to MTS numbers after the "Bonus for Incoming Calls" promotion, and in 2011, the FAS recognized MTS as violating the law on protection of competition after a similar promotion. Later, MTS and Tele2 concluded a settlement agreement.
VimpelCom claims that its promotion is needed to attract new customers and increase loyalty through bonuses. The company says that it is not aimed at causing losses to other market participants, but complies with current legislation. At the same time, the operator believes that reducing the time a subscriber can pick up the phone and decreasing the call duration negatively affects the customer experience.
At the meeting of the expert council, representatives of VimpelCom, according to sources of the Kommersant publication, complained about the retaliatory actions of competitors. According to the publication's interlocutor, MegaFon reduced the maximum duration of connections to VimpelCom numbers from 30 to 20 minutes in Moscow and to 25 minutes in the regions, while MTS and T2 reduced the call connection time from 20 to 13–15 seconds. T2 confirmed the reduction in call duration to 20 minutes, but stated that they did not change the duration of ringing tones. MegaFon explained that the duration of calls and ringing tones is not regulated by law, and the actions of operators often become a response to the steps of competitors. MTS declined to comment.
The operators did not disclose the amounts of possible losses. T2 stated that the promotion violates the market balance established since 2011 and is awaiting a decision from the FAS.