Take it as data: how Moscow lived a week without mobile Internet
Muscovites have been learning to live with unstable mobile Internet for a week now. First of all, residents took care of their home network connection: sales of Wi-Fi routers in the capital increased 1.5 times during this time, and their installation time stretched for several weeks. The demand for equipment has increased dramatically among companies, whose daily losses from lack of communication are estimated by experts at about 1 billion rubles. However, the problems, as it turns out, did not affect everyone: for example, a number of representatives of online commerce, taxi services and large stores reported no serious disruptions. And in general, what is happening, according to experts, so far looks little like a "rehearsal" for the transition of the Network in the country to a model implemented in China or Iran.
Which devices are being bought in Moscow due to Internet outages
Mobile Internet outages in Moscow have been going on for a week now, and residents are adapting to the new conditions. In particular, to stay in touch without using the services of mobile operators. According to Eldar Murtazin, a leading analyst at Mobile Research Group, sales of Wi-Fi routers have increased 1.5 times during this time. At the same time, the queues for connecting wired Internet increased from 7-10 days to three weeks.
In early March, compared with the beginning of February, sales of communications products on Wildberries increased significantly: the turnover of household radio stations increased by 27%, pagers — by 73%, and landlines — by a quarter.
"Russians apparently started buying Wi—Fi routers back in 2025, when the growth was 70% in total and 60% in physical terms," the company added.
The largest growth, probably a record, was shown by sales of paper cards. Thus, road atlases were bought by 170% more, folding maps — by 70%, and maps of Moscow — by 20%, the marketplace reported. Sales of world maps and wall maps of the capital remained virtually unchanged.
Izvestia sent a request to the Ministry of Finance about the reasons for the outages in the mobile Internet.
After a sharp increase in the number of applications for broadband Internet access (broadband) last summer, demand stabilized at a higher level, the Rostelecom press service noted.
"In recent days, we have again seen a surge in applications from companies to connect broadband in the capital regions," the company said.
Voice traffic increased by 3-4%, which is within the normal range of fluctuations, as there was a similar increase last week, T2 representative Daria Kolesnikova told Izvestia. The dynamics of SMS messages looks different: despite the possible impact of congratulations on March 8, message traffic in Moscow has increased by 15.5% in recent days, while it decreased by 2.3% in the previous week compared to the week before last.
— It is difficult to say how much the order of certain services via phone calls and SMS has increased, but this has not added convenience to the use of services. For example, when ordering a Yandex Taxi over the phone, you have to pay in cash, and most users are not used to carrying them with them," said Eldar Murtazin.
He estimated the total losses from Internet outages at about 1 billion rubles per day. According to him, costs will increase due to the need to connect wired Internet, establish communication channels with customers who do not use the Internet, and other related costs.
The press service of the Moscow Parking Space Administrator reminded that parking services can be paid for without the Internet using calls and SMS. In addition to the mobile application, payment is available by sending an SMS to the number 7757 or by calling 3210.
— The Russian Parking app is working normally. If for some reason the driver did not manage to start the parking session on time, you can actually use the post-payment in the application (until the end of the current day): change the start time of the parking session or extend the time of the one that has already ended.
What problems have people and businesses faced?
Against the background of interruptions in the mobile network in the center of Moscow, companies began to think about launching wired Internet, said an employee of a large coffee chain. According to him, previously many establishments provided retail and cash register equipment with unlimited mobile Internet, but now there is no such possibility. His company was forced to temporarily suspend the loyalty program because the bonus card scanning service was unavailable.
In the Honest Fish network, according to co-owner Yan Dmitrenko, the problems with Internet disconnection "seemed to worsen." Restaurants had to suspend their own delivery in the city center, leaving only pickup and orders through aggregators.
According to him, the latter account for a small proportion — mostly their own delivery is used. At the same time, the number of orders decreased slightly: one of them was canceled due to the inability to contact the guest. Some services periodically do not work, and the search for a courier can take an hour or more, so restaurants are forced to send taxi orders. Yan Dmitrenko believes that aggregators also face difficulties. Yandex Food declined to comment.
The consequences of mobile Internet outages affected taxis as well. The companies offer passengers and drivers to take advantage of alternative options.
"When the Internet is unstable in an area, it may be more difficult for a passenger to order a taxi or wait longer for a car: the driver needs more time to receive an order and find a customer," the Yandex Taxi press service told Izvestia.
If the connection is unstable, the app can automatically offer to place an order by phone. Passengers can also connect to the nearest Wi-Fi and order a taxi as usual, after which it is recommended to call the driver to make sure that he goes to the right point and arrives on time, the company noted. The order by phone is paid in cash, and when using Wi-Fi after the connection is restored, it is worth checking the correctness of the trip completion and cost calculation in the application.
The service added that drivers can take orders by phone via Yandex Pro: they receive a call, confirm the order, and then receive the passenger's route and contact via SMS. You can also end the trip with a call. The driver can download maps from Yandex Pro and set routes without the Internet or use a map of public Wi-Fi points to receive and complete orders.
Maxim taxi said that the aggregator was included in the "white list", so there were no significant disruptions in operation. Travel and delivery orders are accepted and executed as usual, the proportion of non-cash payments has not changed, the company says. According to Andrey Kapitan, a member of the Public Council for Taxi Development and head of the 495 taxi company, this is not the first time the industry has experienced difficulties with unstable Internet, but these inconveniences were quickly resolved.
Communication problems have affected not only the transport sector. Cultural institutions have also begun to adapt to the restrictions on Internet access. Some theaters, such as Vakhtangov, ask viewers to print electronic tickets in advance to avoid queues before performances. Visitors to the Bolshoi are used to this procedure, and a reminder of this appears even at the stage of ticket registration.
Other establishments have fixed Wi-Fi: viewers can connect and open a ticket on the spot. In addition, tickets can be downloaded and saved to your phone, making sure that they are located in the device's memory, and not in cloud storage — then they can be shown without the Internet.
However, not all companies have felt the effects of mobile Internet outages. So, the Network restrictions did not affect the operation of Ozon, the company told Izvestia.
— Our services are included in the list of socially significant services of the Ministry of Finance and continue to work during time constraints. Pick—up points are operating normally - there are no massive delays or customer complaints. Most points use wired Internet, and customers can receive orders by digital code or QR code from their personal account, which is accessible even without a network and is constantly updated, which helps us secure orders," the company noted.
The Wildberries&Russ press service also stated that all marketplace services are working stably, and the number of orders through the mobile application in Moscow has not decreased.
Internet outages did not affect the work of retail chains belonging to the Association of Retail Companies (ACORT), Chairman of its presidium Stanislav Bogdanov told Izvestia. The stores are mostly connected to the wired Internet, so all cash registers, payment systems and internal services are operating normally, he explained.
— The services of retail chains are included in the "white lists" of Roskomnadzor and work even with limited mobile Internet. So customers can use loyalty cards and make purchases as usual, there are no changes in operation," he said.
Metro also reported that there are no interruptions and restrictions do not affect the operation of shopping centers: all online orders are processed on time.
— When the Internet is turned off, businesses often lose revenue: they lose the ability to accept orders and communicate with customers online, and send links to pay for products. But according to the Central Bank's data for 2025, 88% of all payments in Russia take place in a non-cash format. This particularly affects small businesses," Mikhail Lyubkin, head of small business insurance at Sberbank Insurance, told Izvestia.
According to him, it is better to prudently apply mechanisms that will avoid losses, including insurance of business interruption in case of Internet outage.
The exact causes of massive mobile Internet failures in Moscow have not yet been named, as well as the possible timing of their elimination.
International experience of Internet restrictions
Experts interviewed by Izvestia noted that attempts to create a sovereign digital space have been made in different countries, but approaches and results vary greatly from case to case.
According to Igor Baranov, an information technology specialist, the Chinese experience is considered one of the most famous examples. A large-scale Internet traffic filtering system known as the "Great Chinese Firewall" has been built in the republic. It restricts access to a number of foreign services such as Google, Facebook (owned by Meta, which is recognized as extremist in Russia) and X. At the same time, national platforms such as WeChat and Weibo were actively developing in the country, which created one of the largest internal Internet ecosystems in the world.
A more rigid model operates in the DPRK, noted IT expert Sergey Pomortsev. There, for most residents, only the Kwangmyong internal intranet is available, where government websites, educational resources and electronic libraries are located. Only certain government agencies and a limited number of specialists have full access to the global Internet in North Korea.
— In Cuba, the attempt to make the Network closed for a long time faced the problems of low speed, expensive access and limited coverage. It was easier for people to circumvent the restrictions, and the slow infrastructure hindered the development of services and online business. However, full control has not been achieved, although the Internet in the country has remained limited and developed slowly for a long time, and the main communication infrastructure is under the control of the state-owned company ETECSA. As a result, the authorities are forced to gradually expand the mobile Internet and public access points so that the Network remains in demand," he said.
Iran has a national digital infrastructure project, the National Information Network, also known as NIN, Igor Baranov said. The project involves the creation of its own system of data centers, services and online platforms capable of operating independently of the global network. At the same time, access to a number of international services, including social networks and messengers, is periodically restricted. According to experts, this approach makes it possible to ensure the operation of the national segment of the Internet even in the case of external restrictions and interventions.
"There are only a few countries with such full—fledged digital sovereignty, even fewer than states with nuclear weapons," said Darko Todorovsky, an expert at the New Era Development Center, a military—political analyst, candidate of political sciences, researcher at the RANEPA under the President of the Russian Federation. — Russia, the United States, China, and Israel are capable of creating and maintaining digital sovereignty of this level.
According to him, only 32 countries in the world have data centers for a closed, sovereign ecosystem using AI, which creates a global technological gap. More than 90% of such centers are controlled by the United States and China, while Africa and South America remain virtually without infrastructure.
What is happening in Moscow bears little resemblance to testing any of the described models, said Karen Ghazaryan, director of the Institute for Internet Research. According to the expert, sometimes there is no access to the Network in some areas of the capital, and in such a situation all resources, including those included in the "white lists", are unavailable.
The material was prepared by Valery Kodachigov, Natalia Bashlykova, Denis Kuznetsov, Vladimir Gavrilov, Anton Bely, Zoya Igumnova.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
