The Accounts Chamber revealed that Russian telecom operators underpaid 2.58 billion rubles to the universal service reserve for 2023–2025. According to the agency, companies incorrectly calculated mandatory payments. The reserve funds the availability of communication services, the construction of fiber-optic lines, and the development of new technologies.
The audit showed that many operators reported significantly lower revenues for calculating deductions than their tax reports indicated. In 2024, out of 4.6 thousand active operators, only 472 companies reported with a deviation of less than 1%, and in 2023, 421. At the same time, 595 operators in 2023 and 600 in 2024 showed revenues more than 80% higher than what they indicated in their reports for the reserve.
Another third of operators annually declared no income. In 2023, there were 3226 such companies, in 2024 – 3122, and in 2025 – 2705. Roskomnadzor established that declarations of no income were unreliable for 1.1 thousand operators in 2023, 1.2 thousand in 2024, and 1.1 thousand in 2025.
Separately, auditors found companies with the activity type "Telecommunications" that transferred less than 0.1% of their income to the reserve. These included marketing platforms, SMS services, messengers, user authentication services, and data centers.
The deduction rate to the reserve from January 1, 2025, is 2% of revenue from communication services. For 2025, the reserve collected 28.6 billion rubles – 87% of all revenues administered by the Ministry of Digital Development. The fine for late payments is 50–100 thousand rubles, and for 2023–2026, 26.28 million rubles were collected from debtors.
The Ministry of Digital Development reported that it received the materials and recommendations from the Accounts Chamber and will consider them in due course. The agency also developed a procedure for monitoring deductions. In parallel, the Ministry of Digital Development is preparing a licensing reform: it provides for a minimum payment to the reserve of 1 million rubles per year in addition to the 2% rate. The bill is expected to be submitted to the State Duma in October 2026.