Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has criticised draft plans for the development of 5G in the country.
Kommersant reports that it is opposed to the creation of a single operator, arguing that this would lead to monopolism, stagnation and the loss of revenue from potential frequency auctions by the state.
The draft plans have been developed by the Ministry of Communications and Mass Communications and have at their heart the creation of a single infrastructure operator in the form of a consortium to which the state would allocate the entire radio frequency spectrum reserved for 5G.
In the ministry’s view, this would be the least expensive option, costing between R54-55 billion (€752-765 million) up to 2024 rather than between R101-161 billion.
However, FAS believes this is risky for the state, business and consumers. While not rejecting the idea of a consortium, it also says that resources should be allocated separately to each telco operator.
Significantly, a joint company for the development of 5G has already been set up by Rostelecom and MegaFon. It intends to shortly start testing the technology.
