The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service has asked the three leading domestic cell phone operators to explain the reasons for their recent connection-fee hikes.
The anti-monopoly service sent letters on Thursday to Mobile TeleSystems, VimpelCom and MegaFon asking them to clarify why they introduced new charges for connecting subscribers` telephone calls and for announcing the changes at roughly the same time, a spokeswoman for the service said.
«The [mobile] operators must respond by August 10», she said.
To offset an estimated $1 billion in annual costs from implementing the Calling Party Pays system, which made incoming calls to mobile phones free to subscribers starting in July, operators have been renegotiating interconnection fees.
MTS, VimpelCom and MegaFon plan to charge 95 kopeks (3.5 cents) for connecting one another's calls. However, the three market leaders would charge 1.10 rubles (4 cents) for connecting calls from any other operators' subscribers, the anti-monopoly body said in a statement Thursday. The watchdog had already sent letters to the three operators asking them to explain this discrepancy.
After the service receives and analyzes the mobile operators` responses, it will decide whether their actions violate anti-monopoly legislation, it said.
MTS, VimpelCom and MegaFon control 88 percent of the country`s mobile market, worth $3 billion at the end of the first quarter, according to J`Son and Partners consultancy. Smaller players, including Tele2, Uralsvyazinform and SMARTS, account for 12 percent.
To compensate for losses resulting from the new system, the three top operators are also mulling introducing a call setup fee on some tariff plans in August. |
