Megafon closed the Megaunlimit option, and Beeline also announced the refusal of unlimited Internet. Mobile operators are not stopped even by the possible prospect of subscribers switching to competitors. Telegraph found out what forced them to take such a step.

Mobile operator Megafon was the first to refuse unlimited Internet. First, the operator renamed the “Megaunlimit” option, which was actively advertised in the summer of 2016, to “Unlimited Internet”. Customers could not find the new tariff on the website, since a search for the old name returned a 404 error, and from February 1, Megafon switched it to archive mode, which prevented it from being connected to new users. Megafon support service explains the closure of the option due to low demand due to the small number of new connections. “It’s not surprising, because subscribers, who had become accustomed to the name “Mega Unlimit” for six months, were looking for an option for this keyword and ended up on a page with nothing on it,” users write in in social networks. To which the mobile operator issues the wording “in many regions this tariff plan was a non-public offer."

=> a small number of new connections, which on the scale of a federal operator essentially means a complete lack of interest @saldim

— MegaFon (@megafonru) February 4, 2017

Since February 10, VimpelCom has replaced unlimited traffic with limited packages. The telecom operator Beeline also stopped connecting subscribers from a number of regions to postpaid packages. For now, the changes apply only to new subscribers of the mobile operator. Internet traffic packages of 10, 14, 20 and 30 gigabytes are available for them, which contain 10% more minutes of voice calls and SMS, as well as twice as much traffic. Moreover, these packages are among the most expensive in the operator’s lineup. The head of VimpelCom, Shell Morten Johnsen, announced changes in tariffs back in December 2016. “We are moving to pricing based on mobile traffic growth. The market should move towards practically free voice services and SMS and several tariff options for Mobile Internet. It is completely irrational that someone can download 60-70 GB, load the network, and at the same time use cheap unlimited or almost unlimited tariffs. This is an issue that the entire industry has to resolve,” said VimpelCom CEO Shell Morten Johnsen in an interview with RBC.

The remaining operators have not yet announced the abandonment of unlimited. Another Big Three operator, MTS, has not made a final decision. “MTS will analyze the consumption profile of its subscribers in order to offer them optimal tariffs,” said the press service of the mobile operator. Tele2 is also monitoring the situation. “For now, Tele2 does not plan to give up unlimited access to mobile Internet and does not intend to reduce the limits on existing tariffs. This is a great opportunity for us to attract new subscribers and demonstrate high quality built network,” the press service of the cellular network told Telegraph.

Experts associate the tariff changes with the Yarovaya Law. The new norms are not only compared to Orwell’s “big brother”, but also fears are expressed about a possible leak of information, and an increase in the cost of services is also named among the likely consequences mobile operators. “Refusal of unlimited Internet and change of tariffs are most likely economically justified and may be associated with changes in legislation. "Yarovaya's Law" requires large investments. New equipment is needed, updating all systems,” Sergei Zhitinsky, general director of the IT company Git in Sky, told Telegraph.

Operator costs cellular communication the implementation of new requirements will amount to about 4 trillion rubles. At the same time, most of the equipment and software must be purchased abroad. “In the third year from the date of adoption of the proposed requirements, the total volume of information on the content of communication services to be stored by Russian telecom operators will be about 157.5 exabytes, which is approximately 100 thousand times greater than the volume of information on the facts of provision of the same communication services,” - says a study by OJSC GIPROSVYAZ.

After raising tariffs, mobile operators will not increase, but lower the quality of services.“Mobile operators are reorienting their investment strategy from the development of network infrastructure to the purchase of data storage infrastructure. This, in turn, will lead to operators mobile communications Russia will be forced to slow down its development towards new generation mobile networks: LTE-Advanced Pro, 5G and further 6G, while foreign operators will implement these projects at a faster pace. What will affect the quality of services provided to subscribers,” Associate Professor of St. Petersburg State University of Technology named after. M. A. Bonch-Bruevich, head of the portal 1234G.ru Anton Steputin.

The State Duma adopted a package of anti-terrorism laws, and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed it in the summer of 2016. Legislative changes proposed by Irina Yarova together with Senator Viktor Ozerov involve measures such as: increasing the term for a number of criminal articles, increasing the storage period for information and messages by mobile operators (from six months to three years), and introducing the concept of “act of international terrorism” and criminal liability for non-reporting.

The expert council under the Russian government estimated the cost of the law at 2.2 trillion rubles. More than 100 thousand people signed a petition demanding the repeal of this law. In October 2016, the Anti-Corruption Foundation filed a lawsuit against Open Government demanding that the petition not be delayed. In January, the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications recommended that the government and law enforcement agencies adjust the Yarovaya Law, in particular, reduce the amount of traffic that telecom operators are required to store for six months. Internet video, IP-TV and torrents may be excluded from the law, which will reduce the amount of traffic to be stored by ten times. This should reduce the costs of operators to comply with the law to 100 billion rubles.

Russian mobile operators are one after another abandoning tariff plans with unlimited internet packages. We are trying to figure out why Russians are being deprived of unlimited traffic.

The Megafon company announced that it is ceasing to offer customers the “unlimited Internet” service. Users who subscribed to the tariff before February will continue to use the capabilities of their service package, but new customers will be forced to pay for mobile Internet in accordance with the amount of traffic used.

Megafon explained the reason for canceling the tariff to dissatisfied customers on its official Twitter: “A small number of new connections, which on the scale of a federal operator essentially means a complete lack of interest.”

However, this explanation is hard to believe. Especially after the speech of the general director of VimpelCom (Beeline) Shell Morten Johnsen, who last December at a press conference told reporters that unlimited tariffs is a road to nowhere, and from 2017 the company will begin to switch to a new pricing method tied to mobile transmission data.

On January 25, another mobile operator, Yota, also switched to a new tariff system. The company's service packages cost from 250 to 2500, and they include from 5 to 30 GB of Internet traffic. If the user exhausts all traffic in less than a month, he will be asked to purchase each subsequent 5 GB for 100 rubles.

Thus, of all the largest mobile operators So far only MTS and Tele2 have not said anything about the cancellation of unlimited packages.

What's wrong with unlimited?

The volume of mobile Internet consumption is growing every year, which cannot be said about the volume of all other services of mobile operators. No one has been using SMS messages for a long time; SMS messages have long been supplanted by messengers that are much more convenient for communication. And even phone calls, which have always constituted the main part of the income of mobile operators, are now fading into the background. You can now make a call via WhatsApp or Skype completely free of charge, and again you only need the Internet.

Thus, the mobile Internet remains the only way for operators to make money, and by providing customers with unlimited traffic, they essentially set the maximum bar for their income, beyond which they cannot earn. Thus, unlimited tariffs have a negative impact on market growth. Last year, the income of all representatives of the so-called “Big Three” mobile operators decreased noticeably, so you shouldn’t be surprised by the cancellation of unlimited traffic.

In addition, the new pricing system will appeal to those who talk more than surf the Internet - now justice will prevail, and they will not overpay for traffic they don’t need.

What about in the West?

Those who are still indignant about how poorly Megafon and Beeline are doing in trying to profit from poor customers should look at Western countries, where the situation with mobile communications is completely different. If the average resident of Russia spends 300-600 rubles a month on mobile communications and the Internet, which is no more than 1-2% of his income, then in the USA, for example, it takes from 50 to 100 dollars for the same needs, which translates into our money is from 3 to 6 thousand rubles.

At the same time, there is no such thing as unlimited in America. The largest US operators Verizon and T-Mobile have tariffs marked “unlimited”, but they all have an upper limit - Verizon has 18 GB for $100 per month, and T-Mobile has 10 GB of high-speed 4G/LTE Internet for $60 . After the provided traffic is used up, you will still have the Internet, but it will work at the speed of the 2G network, that is, several times slower.

In Europe, the concept of unlimited Internet also does not exist, and 1 GB of traffic costs an average of 10 euros - about 630 rubles. Thus, the cost of services of mobile operators in the West is approximately 10 times higher than Russian price tags. We can only hope that the revision of tariff policy will not bring us closer to Europe and the USA.

Experts and operators themselves explain.

To bookmarks

At the beginning of 2017, federal cellular operators abandoned tariffs with unlimited internet, ceasing to connect new subscribers to them. However, in August 2018, MTS and VimpelCom (Beeline brand) almost simultaneously returned offers with unlimited Internet.

• MTS launched the Tariffishche tariff, in which for 650 rubles per month (price for Moscow) the subscriber receives unlimited Internet, 500 minutes of outgoing calls and 500 SMS. But there are limitations: for example, when using file-sharing networks, the speed is reduced to 128 Kb/s, and you cannot distribute the Internet to other devices. When traveling within Russia, the subscriber will be able to use maximum speed only 500 MB per day.
• Beeline has added an unlimited Internet option to the “EverythingMoy” tariff line - the option is free, but to connect it the subscriber must contact the operator’s salon. In September, Beeline plans to launch a separate tariff with unlimited Internet.

Other federal operators have not yet announced plans to return unlimited Internet to their tariffs, but telecom analysts surveyed by the site expect that competitors will soon respond with similar offers.

“Cellular operators are characterized by a herd instinct, and most of the large-scale steps of some market players are quickly picked up by competitors,” says Leonid Konik, general director of the Comnews group of companies.

Megafon is considering the possibility of launching tariffs with unlimited Internet traffic in the future, said operator representative Olga Kuzicheva, but did not speak in more detail about the plans. She recalled that Megafon has a “Turn on” tariff line with unlimited traffic for some applications: VKontakte, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, TamTam, Viber and others.

At the same time, we do not have hidden conditions: we do not reduce the speed when a certain traffic limit is reached, we do not introduce additional restrictions when traveling around Russia, and we do not prohibit the distribution of Internet from mobile devices.

Olga Kuzicheva

Representative of Megafon

Tele2 representative Olga Galushina did not directly answer the question about the operator’s plans to return offers with unlimited Internet. “We are closely monitoring the market situation,” she said. Galushina noted that Tele2 subscribers can transfer Internet traffic unused for a month to the next month, the operator does not impose restrictions on the amount of traffic consumed, and traffic in instant messengers and social networks is not taken into account.

The reasons for the return of market colleagues to practices that they publicly recognized as ineffective are curious, indicating recently that clients simply do not need such volumes of traffic.

Olga Galushina

Tele2 representative

The Yota press service told the site that they do not disclose their plans and do not comment on the actions of other market players.

What has changed in a year

Federal mobile operators have consistently announced the abandonment of tariffs with unlimited Internet traffic in the period from January to April 2017. Unlimited offers lasted only a year. Operators refuse them due to high costs and low demand from subscribers.

"Unlimited in mobile networks as a mass service is impossible with existing technologies. Operator networks are not enough for mass unlimited consumption of the Internet, which involves transferring large volumes of traffic,” Konstantin Ankilov, CEO of TMT Consulting, explained to the site in March 2017.

Now representatives of MTS and VimpelCom explain the return of unlimited offers by demand from the audience.

Our clients live in a digital environment and do not want to think about Internet limits; they perceive them as artificial restrictions. Responding to this trend and customer requests, we have returned unlimited Internet.

Alexey Merkutov

MTS representative

Unlimited tariffs are interesting for a certain part of clients, because, in their opinion, they additionally insure against possible exit beyond the package on the tariff and give double control over expenses. We satisfy the request of this part of the audience.

Anna Aibasheva

Representative of VimpelCom

The volume of traffic downloaded by subscribers has increased over the past year and a half, as noted by telecom analysts surveyed on the site. If in the spring of 2017 users downloaded 5-6 GB of data per month via the mobile Internet, now this figure has reached 7-8 GB. By the end of 2019, the volume of consumed traffic will reach 10 GB, Telecom Daily CEO Denis Kuskov expects.

More than a year has passed since the cancellation of unlimited tariffs and options, and for many in the market, MTS’s step came as a surprise, says iKS-Consulting analyst Maxim Savvatin. In his opinion, the initiative is aimed at strengthening its position, since unlimited offers a competitive advantage.

By returning unlimited tariffs, operators expect to retain subscribers and transfer highly profitable clients of other operators to them, although this will not lead to a radical change in market positions, analysts believe.

The former growth of cellular operators - both in subscribers and in money - has not only stopped, but sometimes has negative values. The reasons are the absence of unconnected subscribers in the country, the presence of four main players in the market, which leads to price wars with already low tariffs, as well as the growing popularity of OTT services like Telegram or WhatsApp, which deprive operators of income from basic services.

Taking into account the fact that in Russia it has been possible for several years to change a mobile operator while maintaining the same number, operators are trying their best to retain subscribers. The limits on Internet traffic introduced by operators in 2017 were negatively perceived by users, and by returning unlimited, cellular companies are trying to regain the loyalty of subscribers.

In addition, the emergence of new virtual operators (MVNO), which mostly operate on the Tele2 network and offer unlimited internet tariffs, forces the Big Three players to act with an eye on MVNO.

Leonid Konik

General Director of Comnews Group

Another argument for the return of unlimited tariffs is their simplicity and clarity for customers, says Savvatin. In his opinion, unlimited Internet always attracts subscribers, so it is easy to sell. The analyst is confident that other operators will soon also present similar tariffs or options.

Telecom Daily CEO Denis Kuskov, on the contrary, considers the return to unlimited tariffs harmful for the market: the technical capabilities of operators have not changed and a small number of subscribers with unlimited Internet will again heavily load the network. Operators do not receive additional income from them, the analyst emphasizes.

At one time, operators missed the mark by launching unlimited tariff plans. I don't know why they thought it would be justified now.

In my opinion, given that the average user pumps out about 6-7 GB of traffic per month, it is a much more correct option to leave package tariffs with the option of purchase additional traffic. Then the subscriber himself would use the Internet for its intended purpose, and other users would not experience problems due to the high load on the network.

Denis Kuskov

CEO of Telecom Daily

Prospects for the existence of unlimited tariffs and the fight against “rockers”

How long operators will sell tariffs and options with an unlimited tariff primarily depends on the load on the networks, says Maxim Savvatin from iKS-Consulting: “If there is not a big dependence on the load on the networks, then the unlimited will last for some time. But as soon as operators feel a high load, they will change the conditions.”

Much depends on the reaction of users, and it is too early to predict the end date of unlimited offers, says a representative of VimpelCom: “As the experience of past years shows, if unlimited offers appear on the market, they appear with all operators; if they leave, then with all operators. This is a market phenomenon."

According to TMT Consulting, there are now 265 million SIM cards in Russia. There are only 110 million real subscribers in the country, everything else is second smartphones, tablets and other devices, says Kuskov. In his opinion, unlimited Internet is of interest to only 5% of subscribers, that is, 5.5 million users. The head of Telecom Daily calls them “rockers.”

“You can fight the “rockers” different ways: for example, change the tariff plan or limit the speed after downloading a certain amount of traffic,” says Kuskov. He expects that MTS may change the terms of the new tariff when a certain number of subscribers connect to it.

Previously, a small part of users actually created a load on the network and limited access to the Internet for other subscribers, downloading significant amounts of traffic and distributing the Internet to several devices, an MTS representative admits. The restrictions in the new tariff made it possible to solve this problem, he claims.

Leonid Konik from Comnews also does not see the risk of increasing the load on operator networks. In his opinion, the widespread distribution of free Wi-Fi in transport, in shopping centers, airports and other public places allows operators to relieve congestion cellular network. At the same time, the expert noted that the actions of operators are not always logical.

In the last couple of years, Russian cellular companies have been characterized by illogical and nervous actions, such as the closure of Megafon six months after the launch of the virtual operator VK Mobile, the launch of the Veon platform by Beeline, which the new head of the company called unsuccessful, or the purchase of an e-ticket service by MTS .

Therefore, I would not be surprised if after some time operators close unlimited tariffs again.

Leonid Konik

General Director of Comnews Group

Financial implications

The immediate return of unlimited tariffs will not affect operators’ revenue, but in the long term it will have a negative impact, warns Maxim Savvatin from iKS-Consulting.

If traffic consumption grows and MTS competitors offer something in return, then, of course, we should expect a negative impact, since with the advent of unlimited tariffs for high-income subscribers, there is no longer any incentive to consume large traffic packages that could bring more revenue to the operator.

For example, a user who downloads 20-30 GB per month and pays, say, a thousand rubles, will see a 50% lower price tag from his own operator, and sooner or later he will switch to this tariff. What's the point of continuing to pay for traffic packages if you can use the Internet cheaper?

But we can talk about this already next year - the proposal will not affect the indicators of the second half of 2018. The negative impact can be corrected by the high cost of unlimited Internet: 650 rubles in Moscow is already a fairly expensive tariff. This is one of the main differences from the previous advent of unlimited.

At these rates, many users may not be as proactive in upgrading to such offers, and the negative impact on revenue in the short term will not be as severe as after the introduction of unlimited tariffs in 2016.

Maxim Savvatin

Analyst at iKS-Consulting

Tariffs with unlimited Internet traffic may lead to an increase in operators’ costs for storing subscriber data, a Megafon representative said in the spring of 2017.

Average consumption on unlimited tariffs is comparable to consumption on package tariffs, says VimpelCom representative Anna Aibasheva: “We do not expect explosive growth in consumption on unlimited.” MTS also does not expect an increase in the volume of downloaded traffic.

“The Yarovaya Law” is a big problem for operators, but the return of unlimited tariffs will not bring additional hassle, since the volume of consumed traffic is growing even without them, Kuskov is sure. The analyst is more concerned about a possible increase in prices for communication services due to the need for operators to increase storage volumes every year for five years.

From October 1, 2018, operators and Internet providers will store all user traffic, including calls, text messages and transferred files. The storage capacity for each user must correspond to the volume of his traffic 30 days before the storage launch. Every year, operators must increase storage capacity by 15% for five years.

How many operators are there on “Yarovaya’s law”:

• MTS plans to allocate 60 billion rubles for data storage in the next five years.
• VimpelCom estimated its expenses at 45 billion rubles over five years, Megafon - at 40 billion rubles over five years.
• Tele2 CEO Sergei Emdin costs the operator “tens of billions of rubles” over three years.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service decided to look for logic in the actions of mobile operators, who almost simultaneously abandoned tariffs and options for unlimited Internet. The logic in their actions is easy to detect. Will the FAS find evidence of collusion?

The reason for the interest of antimonopoly officials in mobile Internet tariffs was user complaints. Unlimited traffic for smartphones and tablets is a luxury unprecedented in the world, and Russians were able to enjoy this luxury for just under a year. A person quickly gets used to good things, and therefore the abolition of unlimited at the same time raises questions and suspicions among all operators.

The first to face traffic restrictions were new Yota subscribers. Since January 2017, only old clients of this operator can use unlimited Internet. In February, Beeline (VimpelCom) and Megafon introduced the same restrictions, in March MTS joined them, and in April the unlimited limit disappeared from Tele2. Why did cellular companies cancel services in which huge amounts of money were invested in advertising? They themselves tried to explain this by caring about subscribers.

Confusion in the testimony

Operators make incredible statements: supposedly users themselves want to pay for gigabytes and therefore ignore options and tariffs with unlimited traffic. Megafon said in February that the “Megaunlimit” option was activated “a small number of times”, accordingly, it was recognized as unnecessary and moved to the archive. However, if you believe subscribers, the operator did everything to hide it from the public: the “Mega Unlimited” option was renamed “Unlimited Internet”, its previous description disappeared from the operator’s website.

MTS, in turn, says that most users download no more than 5-6 GB per month via the cellular network, so maintaining unlimited data makes no sense. Official representative of MTS Dmitry Solodovnikov reported that unlimited traffic will remain for subscribers who used it previously, new customers will be offered to buy gigabyte packages from mid-April.

The operators’ words contradict the figures: in 2016, mobile Internet traffic in Russia increased by almost one and a half times, almost 3.8 billion GB were downloaded through 3G and 4G networks. This is approximately seven times less than in fixed communication networks, but the growth rate of the mobile segment is rapid. Another figure explains the position of telecom operators: revenues from mobile Internet are growing much more modestly; last year they increased by only 12%. Revenue from voice communications is declining altogether - more and more people are making free calls through Whatsapp, Skype and Viber.

Another explanation

Another version looks more plausible. According to the CEO of Tele2 Sergei Emdin, in 2016, in the market as a whole, unlimited tariffs accounted for only 25% of sales, but subscribers with such tariffs provided 50% of the network load. That is, a relatively small percentage of “unlimited” subscribers can reduce the quality of communication services for other subscribers. But this argument against unlimited traffic also looks unconvincing, because old subscribers with such tariffs will not go anywhere. The operator can regulate the load on the network - reduce the download speed after the subscriber uses a certain amount of traffic per hour or per day.

On this topic

Operators announced the so-called “Yarovaya package” as another reason for abandoning tariffs with unlimited Internet. Amendments to anti-terrorism legislation adopted last year require that all user traffic be stored on our servers. Allegedly, a large amount of data, the formation of which could be facilitated by unlimited, will create a significant load on the equipment. But here it is appropriate to remember that cable Internet providers, which carry a significant share of Russian traffic through themselves, are faced with the same problem, but they do not cancel unlimited tariffs.

“We butted heads and parted ways”

In 2016, shortly before tariffs without traffic restrictions appeared in Russia, the CEO of VimpelCom Mikhail Slobodin warned operators against this step. According to him, the cellular communications market will only be able to grow due to an increase in the cost of mobile Internet. Cheap traffic packages harm the industry, and unlimited tariffs will completely set the maximum bar for operator income.

However, the very next month VimpelCom introduced a tariff with unlimited Internet, in May MTS also did the same, and in June Megafon joined them. Some experts believe that in this way representatives of the Big Three reacted to increased competition from Tele2. By joining forces with Rostelecom, this company decided to become the third largest subscriber base in Russia by 2018. In 2016, 1.7 million people connected to Tele2, and the total number of its contracts approached 40 million.

Probably, each of the representatives of the Big Three perceived unlimited as an effective marketing tool for attracting and retaining subscribers. When unlimited traffic appeared for everyone, it began to interfere with the development of the market as a whole, but none of the operators would dare to cancel unlimited traffic unilaterally. All this allows the FAS to suspect operators of collusion, but will it be possible to prove it as a fact? Now the department is studying the information provided by cellular companies about the heavy load on the networks, only after that it will decide whether or not to initiate a case for violating antimonopoly legislation.

In 2016, unlimited mobile Internet made Russia one of the most progressive countries, creating good opportunities for the development of the digital economy, Internet of things, telemedicine and online education. The development of such services could become a new source of revenue for mobile operators, but it is obvious that for now they prefer to make money by selling traffic packages to subscribers.

In recent days, information about the abolition of unlimited tariffs for mobile Internet has been actively disseminated on the Internet. At the same time, communication services themselves may become more expensive due to a drop in the profitability of the mobile business, “informed sources” note. The team of the Internet project “Be Mobile” decided to understand the situation and turned to Russian operators communications.

How did it all start?

id="sub0">

At the end of January virtual Yota operator announced the abandonment of completely unlimited Internet traffic on its tariffs for smartphones. And in early February, similar changes were announced by MegaFon, which, by the way, is the owner of Yota.

Telecom and financial market analysts through the media added fuel to the fire. They stated that the trend towards the abolition of unlimited tariffs for mobile Internet in Russia will gain momentum. Experts predict the complete disappearance of unlimited services by the end of 2017.

What will happen to the mobile Internet?

id="sub1">

The Internet project “Be Mobile” asked the largest Russian telecom operators for clarification. Representatives of Yota and MegaFon confirmed the cancellation of unlimited tariffs and options for subscribers who use smartphones. At the same time, they assured that all previously connected unlimited services will continue to be serviced without any restrictions or innovations.

“We have made the product line for smartphones simpler and clearer - new customers of the company will be able to buy a package of minutes and traffic at reduced prices, as well as enable the new “Unlimited” option mobile applications" Thanks to this option, customers don’t have to think about how many megabytes it takes to communicate with friends or watch videos on social networks,” says CEO of Yota Vladimir Dobrynin.

At the same time, the company notes that Yota’s current tariffs for unlimited Internet for modems and routers remain the same. The price here depends on the selected data reception and transmission speed.

MegaFon said that since February the “Unlimited Internet” option has been closed to new connections due to low demand.

“Over the past month, we have seen an extremely small number of new connections, which on the scale of a federal operator essentially means a complete lack of interest in it. Those clients who needed this option have already enabled it. For the vast majority of clients, the traffic volumes included in the package are sufficient. In most cases, a large amount of traffic is needed to watch TV, movies and series online. Such clients actively use MegaFon TV, since this service is free for holders of package tariffs, and traffic is not charged,” details the information Svetlana Emelyanova, press secretary of the Ural branch of MegaFon.

Unlimited Internet is closed only for new connections, MegaFon emphasizes. For all subscribers who activated the option before February 1, the option will be valid under the same conditions. At the same time, options that allow you to use mobile Internet while traveling around Russia are valid under the same conditions.

Beeline stated that by now, unlimited services have turned into a marketing tool to attract attention to offers. “In 2016, we did a temporary promotion with unlimited data on postpaid tariffs, from which we ended on January 31, 2017 as planned,” says representative of VimpelCom Inna Rybina.- However, in fact, the actual consumption on unlimited for the vast majority of clients is actually the same as on tariffs with included data traffic packages. In the current situation they are holding back more further development market: date consumption in total is growing, while both active users and those who use the date a little pay the same - and this is on the general trend of declining voice consumption and the need for operators to invest in infrastructure that can support growing date volumes. Therefore, in our opinion, in the future the market will inevitably come to a change in the pricing model: from the cost of a minute to the cost of a unit of data. This will provide the opportunity to differentiate offerings to customers based on their changing consumption profile.”

MTS declined to answer definitively whether they would cancel unlimited mobile Internet access, noting: “We will analyze the consumption profile of our subscribers in order to offer them optimal tariffs. Our key task is to provide all subscribers with comfortable and convenient services. In order to achieve this, we regularly analyze the consumption profile of our customers. As a result, we currently have a wide range of package tariffs that meet the needs of subscribers - including large packages of Internet traffic, SMS and minutes. And we see that such offers find a high response from our clients, as they allow them to plan their expenses and understand the final cost of communication services.”

The press service of the operator Tele2 stated that they do not plan to abandon the services and tariffs of unlimited mobile Internet and do not intend to reduce the limits on existing offers. “We also do not plan to cancel the tariffication of mobile Internet in national roaming at home region prices,” the company said.

The fifth largest mobile operator MOTIV is also not going to cancel the unlimited tariffication of Internet traffic.

"Change the conditions current tariffs We do not yet plan to close them for new connections. But we plan to implement several new tariffs. We are sure that our subscribers will like them,” notes Director of Marketing and Sales at MOTIV Ekaterina Khvorostova.

It is worth noting that unlimited mobile Internet access offers a huge number of new opportunities for mobile device owners. Thus, there are often cases when mobile unlimited is used by owners of USB modems and Wi-Fi routers to provide an internal network at home or in the office. Smartphone owners also actively use their gadgets to share the Internet to other devices via Wi-Fi. However, at the same time, operators are faced with a serious increase in traffic volumes. Existing networks noticeably loaded.

To solve loading problems, operators have two options. The simplest and cheapest is to limit the growth of traffic or make it more expensive for those who download and send a lot of data. More complex and expensive - expanding channels, increasing the number of connection points global network, caching frequently used website data.

The first unlimited tariffs for mobile Internet in Russia appeared from Yota, but this operator was considered a niche operator, it did not have many subscribers, and it had little influence on the market. In March 2016, unlimited launched Beeline, in May of the same year, MTS launched unlimited Internet, in June MegaFon succumbed to the trend, and in November - Tele2.