In Russia, the number of telecom operators decreased by 17% in a year. From July 2025 to July 2026, their number decreased to just over 7 thousand. The number of licenses also decreased by 17% — now there are more than 21 thousand. Roskomnadzor explains this by the fact that many companies effectively did not use their licenses.
The agency talks about the departure of so-called "paper networks" from the market. This refers to cases where a company has a valid license, but no communication services are actually provided under it. That is, the operator exists in documents, but there is no real work under a specific permit.
A reduction in the number of companies does not necessarily mean a similar drop in the volume of communication itself. According to market participants, some of the disappeared operators were precisely legal structures built around existing infrastructure. Therefore, a decrease in the number of licenses and companies does not yet indicate a reduction in the number of networks or subscribers.
At the same time, the cost of working with licenses is increasing for small players. Since 2024, the state duty for providing a license for relevant communication services, for which a requirement to ensure operational-search activities is established, is 1 million rubles for each type of service. Previously, the amount of such a duty was 7.5 thousand rubles.
There are other grounds for terminating licenses. In particular, the law provides for such a possibility in case of failure to submit mandatory reports or submission of knowingly unreliable or incomplete information, as well as in case of non-provision of communication services for more than six months.