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- Call attempted: the number of mobile phone calls increased by a third after restrictions in messengers
Call attempted: the number of mobile phone calls increased by a third after restrictions in messengers
Russians have become more likely to make mobile phone calls after blocking calls to Telegram and WhatsApp (part of Meta, the organization is recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation). According to the Ministry of Digital Services, there are now 20-30% more such calls. This led to increased network load and connection failures. Due to the unavailability of calls in messengers, subscribers' expenses may increase to 7% by the end of the year - operators should use this money to develop communications, including in remote locations, experts say. Today, 90% of surveyed sections of Russian roads are not provided with it, and for 7% of the population it is generally inaccessible.
Where do Russians leave foreign messengers?
Blocking calls to Telegram and WhatsApp has influenced the fact that Russians have become more likely to call each other on regular mobile numbers. As the Ministry of Finance told Izvestia, in August, the growth of voice traffic in communication networks was about 20-30%.
Instant messenger calls were relevant for those who communicated with subscribers in other cities or countries.
The data on the growth in demand for telephony was confirmed in T2. After the partial restriction of calls in messengers (Roskomnadzor officially announced this on August 13), voice traffic increased by 9% on average in Russia, and in some regions this figure is up to 30%, Daria Kolesnikova, a representative of the operator, told Izvestia. The company did not specify how the traffic structure (local, long-distance and international calls) has changed.
— We note an increase in voice traffic, but we quickly respond to the dynamics and, if necessary, aggregate the frequencies into 3G so that the base station can handle the load. We do not fix any problems with the traditional voice service," added Daria Kolesnikova.
Representatives of MTS, Megafon and Vimpelcom declined to comment.
Due to the increased network load, there are sometimes failures when dialing in cellular networks, said Denis Kuskov, CEO of TelecomDaily. This is not a permanent or widespread situation, but it does happen, he added.
Sergey Polovnikov, head of the Content-Review project, explains this by saying that a significant part of voice traffic (up to 30%) was carried out using VoLTE technology in LTE networks. When the Internet is turned off and the traffic that has left messengers is added to it, voice calls return to the old 2G and 3G networks, which leads to an overload of equipment, he said. The expert sees the solution to the problem, for example, by not turning off VoLTE during UAV attacks.
Mobile voice traffic in Russia has been steadily falling under the pressure of messengers so far. According to Leonid Konik, a partner at ComNews Research, over the past decade and a half, people have become accustomed not only to chatting in messengers, but also to calling through them, even within the same city. Initially, this method of communication was used to save on roaming charges or calls abroad.
— With the blocking of voice calls in messengers, some of the traffic (primarily local, that is, within the city or region) returned to cellular networks. Operators have long become unaccustomed to such loads, and the networks are clearly unable to cope, although 15 years ago this happened only on New Year's Eve," he said.
The expert explained this by the fact that over the past decade, cellular companies have been methodically transferring radio frequencies from 2G and 3G networks, which have the technical capability to transmit voice traffic, to a more marginal 4G/LTE network. According to him, it is theoretically possible to return frequencies back to the old standards, but it will require significant resources and time.
TelecomDaily estimates that phone traffic in Russia has increased by 15-20% over the past two weeks, with 40% of these calls being long—distance and international. It is logical to assume that with an increase in traffic, citizens' communication costs may also increase. According to Denis Kuskov, by the end of the year, subscribers' communication costs may increase by about 7%, and for active users of long—distance calls - up to 500 rubles per month.
At the same time, operators do not plan to raise tariffs, according to communications specialists and analysts researching the telecom market.
"We do not plan to adjust tariffs, as our offers include large packages of minutes, which are enough for conversations over traditional voice communication with almost no restrictions," Daria Kolesnikova from T2 told Izvestia. "You can choose the optimal amount of traffic according to your needs.
Denis Kuskov also doubts that communication tariffs will rise, if only because their increase is controlled by the Federal Antimonopoly Service. He believes that the average bill may increase due to the increased use of local, long-distance and international calls by subscribers.
— It would be advisable for operators to use the additional revenues to expand and modernize their networks and improve the quality of communications. In particular, these funds can be used to purchase domestic network equipment.: This will give an incentive to the development of Russian high—tech production," the expert noted.
According to Rosstat, now the average cost of cellular communications in the Russian Federation is practically not growing. It decreased from 679.79 rubles per month in January to 668.86 in June, slightly adjusted to 678.56 rubles in July.
Who can't receive calls and where?
Market participants have said before that due to mobile Internet blockages and problems with messengers, Russians are forced to remember about cellular communication technologies that are considered outdated. So, in June-July, compared with the beginning of the year, SMS traffic increased by 12-15%, one of them told Izvestia. According to him, this applies to both service messages — authorization codes, information about payments and delivery of goods — and personal correspondence.
"The total number of outgoing SMS messages sent by our subscribers over the past six months has increased by an average of 15%," the MegaFon press service reported, comparing the middle of summer with the beginning of the year.
Now a similar situation is observed with calls over mobile networks, and this makes it clear that not everywhere in Russia has a cellular infrastructure that allows voice use even in the archaic 2G standard.
— There is no cellular connection in the parents' house, but there is a wired Internet connection — so far they have used messengers for phone calls, — user Maria told Izvestia. — But with the blocking of calls in messengers, the ability to talk to them has disappeared.
There really is such a problem — now about 7% of the Russian population does not have stable access to mobile communications, Denis Kuskov noted.
— It's pointless to talk about how much territory is not covered — it's huge. These include remote settlements, roads, railways, and many other locations," he says.
According to him, there are problems in almost all Russian regions: they manifest themselves, in particular, in the Yaroslavl, Vologda, Tver regions, Krasnodar Territory and Novosibirsk Region, and even in the Moscow region.
However, it would be an exaggeration to blame everything on the desire of operators to save money on telephony in hard-to-reach areas, the expert said. Network equipment is currently in short supply, and the question arises for signalmen: whether to install it in a city where it will serve thousands of users every hour, or on a highway where one car passes during this time, and what are the social priorities in this case. In addition, such equipment is often technically impossible to install in remote locations — more precisely, to ensure at least its minimum payback, he added.
For example, an interdepartmental working group under the Ministry of Finance, established in 2023, found out that only 10% of the surveyed highway sections have the infrastructure necessary for the construction of LTE networks. In this regard, the remaining 90% of federal highway sections cannot be provided with LTE coverage due to the lack of power supply for the equipment, it was noted in the materials of the State Commission on Radio Frequencies.
Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Economic Development, people began to travel by car more often. In 2024, auto tourism accounted for 40% of all tourist trips in the country, and an increase to 43% is expected in 2025.
In this situation, motorists need to stay in touch.
The Ministry of Finance told Izvestia that the work on connecting small settlements and highways to the network is being carried out systematically and constantly — this is one of the priorities.
— The Agency is implementing a program to eliminate digital inequality, which includes the installation of base stations. Since 2025, the program has been expanded to cover more settlements — the upper limit of the number of inhabitants has been raised from 500 to 1 thousand people. Thanks to this, it is possible to solve issues related to increasing the availability of telecom services even more effectively.
In addition, the Ministry of Finance is working on the preparation for the second reading of the draft law on the joint use of base stations by telecom operators. Initially, it stipulated that in localities with a population of up to 1,000 people, where not all federal operators provide telecom services, the dominant operator would be required to provide shared access to its equipment to other companies on contractual terms.
The ministry also recalled that in the summer the State Duma adopted a law developed with the participation of the Ministry of Finance on the placement and operation of communication facilities within the boundaries of the right-of-way roads. It is aimed at optimizing the interaction between telecom operators and highway owners. Its implementation will make it possible to remove the difficulties that delay the development of the telecom infrastructure, and accelerate the provision of highways with high-quality communications, the department says.
On the horizon of three to four months from the moment of blocking the "voice" in WhatsApp and Telegram, it is expected that at least 50% of local calls from mobile to mobile across the country (usually falling in packets of minutes) will return to cellular networks, Leonid Konik believes. At the same time, the share of long—distance calls that will be transferred to operators will amount to 15-20%, and international traffic - no more than 5%. In the latter case, subscribers are likely to use video platforms and alternative messengers, the expert concluded.
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