The volume of communication services provided to enterprises of all types of activities increased by 11% in June compared to June 2022, and by 2.2% compared to May 2023, amounting to 210.9 billion rubles. In total, in the first half of 2023, the volume of communication services amounted to 1.23 trillion rubles, which is 6.3% higher than the result of the same period in 2022.
This is stated in issue No. 1537 of the monthly bulletin "Branches of the Russian economy: production, finance, securities. Communications and Information Technologies" dated August 23, 2023.
The volume of services in software development in June amounted to 286.9 billion rubles. This indicator increased by 5.2% compared to June 2022, and by 45.6% compared to the previous month. The volume of software development services in the first six months of 2023 increased by 3.1% compared to the same period last year to 1.3 trillion rubles.
At the end of July, President Vladimir Putin signed a law increasing the responsibility of owners of social networks and ad services for violating the obligations established by law. The law provides for fines of up to 8 million rubles for them. The document is published on the official portal of legal information and will enter into force on September 1, 2023. A fine will be imposed for failure to submit or late submission to Roskomnadzor of data allowing identification of the owner, as well as for failure to monitor social networks and failure to delete illegal information.
On August 15, the Ministry of Finance, together with telecommunications companies, submitted for public discussion a draft strategy for the development of the communications industry until 2035. We intend to implement the strategy in two stages: in the periods from 2023 to 2030 and from 2031 to 2035. At the first stage, it is planned to introduce domestic LTE equipment on communication networks, complete the use of 3G, develop infrastructure for 5G and 6G-Ready standards, etc. The second stage provides for Internet connection using fixed-line networks of 98% of households and socially significant objects with a speed of at least 1 Gbit/s, the introduction of 5G networks on domestic equipment in all cities with a population of 100 thousand people, as well as commercial operation of 6G.
Telecom operators can get the opportunity to increase tariffs annually, while indexing above the inflation rate is allowed if a significant part of the resulting profit is reinvested in the development of networks, according to the draft Strategy for the development of the communications industry for the period up to 2035. The approach to determining the amount of permissible indexing should be differentiated and dependent on the purposes for which the operator uses the additional profit extracted (due to tariff indexing).
For a more detailed analysis, read issue No. 1537 of the monthly bulletin "Branches of the Russian Economy: Production, Finance, Securities. Communication and information technology" dated May 10, 2023. The bulletin contains an overview of the Russian telecommunications and communications market, including mobile and broadband Internet, as well as digital TV and online cinemas. Review of the Russian legislative framework and its changes affecting the industry, analysis of the results of activities in the industry, innovative strategies and areas of work of operators and providers of the "big Four", including the development of 5G and MVNO, as well as their tariff policy. The bulletin is accompanied by a brief overview of the stock market and the results of M&A activity. The news of the largest companies in the industry is included.
