Exceptions without rules: massive Internet outages will be reduced in Russia
In Russia, mass outages of the mobile Internet will be reduced and regulated — how to do this is already being discussed by the Ministry of Finance and business, high-ranking sources in the communications market told Izvestia. Perhaps a single government agency responsible for this will be identified, and an alert system will be created. Disabling the Internet is one of the ways to deal with drones, however, the industry notes that outages are often chaotic, and orders are given by regional and federal structures, and there are doubts that their demands are justified.
Why do they turn off the mobile Internet?
The number of attacks using drones has recently begun to grow. Since the beginning of the month alone, about 1.5 thousand Ukrainian aircraft-type UAVs have been destroyed and intercepted, according to reports from the Ministry of Defense. Disabling mobile communications is one of the ways to deal with drones. Now the relevant orders are given by local authorities, regional departments of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, other officials and organizations, and often the requirements are chaotic. In order to streamline and reduce mass outages, the Ministry of Finance and Business are discussing the introduction of rules for disabling mobile Internet. A senior federal official and a top manager of one of the cellular companies told Izvestia about this.
— Until recently, telecom operators followed the instructions of Roskomnadzor and law enforcement agencies, in particular the FSB. This was standard practice, for example, during the preparation for various mass events. But due to the current situation and the increased frequency of attacks by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), there are too many structures giving such orders," said a source close to one of the mobile operators.
For example, on the eve of Victory Day, Russians were warned about the limitation of the mobile Internet. Also during the SPIEF, residents of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region complained about interruptions in the operation of the mobile Internet. The authorities explained this by ensuring the security of the forum.
Cellular communications are also periodically disconnected due to massive drone attacks on strategic facilities, including airports. So, from July 5 to July 7, Russian airlines canceled 485 flights for safety reasons, 88 went to alternate airfields, and 1,9 thousand flights were delayed for departure and arrival.
However, drones are guided not only by the signals of global satellite navigation systems, but also by the signal strength of cellular base stations, said Denis Kuskov, CEO of TelecomDaily.
For example, operatives at regional administrations are active in shutting down the Internet, according to a source close to one of the mobile operators. According to him, now the operators' specialists are overloaded with requests for shutdowns, which are sent by local leaders who are not authorized to do so. These applications from the regions should be sent to Moscow, reviewed and determined whether they are legitimate or not, and plans for disconnection should be drawn up. All this takes time, and because of this, access cannot always be promptly blocked where it is really needed, the Izvestia source says. On the other hand, access can be blocked by mistake where it is not required in principle.
There is also a reverse process — business leaders often ask not to block the mobile Internet on the territory of their factories and plants, the Izvestia source continued. They motivate this by the fact that the equipment operating there uses LTE in technological processes. The source notes that for users, spontaneous Internet blockages mean not only the inability to call a taxi, use cards or make a payment, but more and more voice traffic is moving to LTE, meaning that in the absence of Internet, it is impossible even to make a call.
According to him, at the preliminary stage, the authorities and business are discussing the issue of defining a single authorized body, a "single window" in which applications from all interested structures would be submitted. This would immediately limit the influence of unauthorized authorities on the procedure, especially on the ground, he believes. It is possible that an additional information system may be created from which participants in the cellular market will receive reliable and comprehensive instructions on the timing and locations of turning off and turning on mobile networks, the source believes.
The issue of how to restore order with the blocking of the mobile Internet is currently being discussed, a federal official confirmed to Izvestia.
— A lot of different authorities give instructions to turn it off and forget to tell when to turn it on, — he noted.
Izvestia sent requests to the Ministry of Finance, as well as to the largest Russian telecom operators. Roskomnadzor said they were not familiar with these initiatives.
"We support the centralization of the process of introducing time restrictions on the network," Vimpelcom commented on the initiative.
How to mitigate the effect of blocking
Karen Ghazaryan, Director of the Internet Research Institute, agrees with the fact that many unauthorized organizations are currently ordering (or at least trying) to block the mobile Internet. According to him, there really is a problem, so streamlining the blocking procedure will save users from unnecessary, unjustified shutdowns, and operators from unnecessary work, he believes.
The appointment of a single body through which operators will receive orders is fully justified. It would also be advisable to create a system that could quickly convey verified information to signalmen, the expert believes.
— In addition, the position of many authorities now is to completely block the mobile Internet. However, it is not necessary to use such drastic measures to combat threats: for example, access to cross-border Internet can be disabled in certain territories, thereby blocking the work of drone operators from abroad. Or block access to devices that suddenly appear on the operator's network and move quickly between base stations, as they are easily identified by their unique identification numbers (IMEI)," added Karen Ghazaryan.
Obviously, blockages have negative consequences for users, as well as for the industry. Operators who are unable to provide services are also being harmed, Denis Kuskov noted.
Any measures to minimize the number of lockouts and mitigate their consequences are positive for business and society, he believes. The introduction of a "single window" for issuing instructions to operators and the creation of a system for promptly informing them would make the problem with outages less acute, the expert concluded.
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