Russia (bbabo.net), - Mobile operators are increasing the cost of archival tariffs. MTS has already announced a price increase, Beeline is considering such a possibility. MegaFon and Tele2 also plan to raise tariffs, according to market sources.
The increase will affect a significant part of subscribers. According to experts, every fourth cellular user today uses the archival tariff.
MTS draws attention to the fact that the company notified all users of archival tariffs in advance that their cost will be changed upwards. Notifications to subscribers began to be sent after the New Year. So, the observer received a notice on January 10 that the cost would be increased from January 17.
"We warned subscribers about the changes in advance and in the most detailed format so that they could choose: to stay at the current tariff or switch to another tariff or subscription," said Alexei Merkutov, the company's official representative.
The company notes that the change in the cost of communication services is associated with an increase in the cost of maintaining and building networks, in particular - equipment and its delivery, rising prices for electricity and other services provided by external contractors. One more factor of increase - the obligations assigned to operators on execution of regulatory requirements.
Beeline reported that they are also studying the possibility of raising tariffs.
"We are considering the possibility of changing prices for parts of archival tariffs, we will warn subscribers in advance and provide the opportunity to choose additional bonuses or change the tariff plan," the operator's press service said.
Megafon and Tele2 declined to comment. However, sources in the market do not doubt that these operators will also raise tariffs by 10-12 percent.
According to Eldar Murtazin, head of Mobile Research Group, the market average share of subscribers using archival tariffs is about 20-25% of the total number of cellular users. And the increase in tariffs is caused by inflation. "Tariffs that were launched 3-5 years ago have not been adjusted all this time. Now the adjustment is 10 percent, which is significantly lower than the inflation rate," Murtazin notes.
Increasing the cost of archival tariffs in recent years has become a common practice, said Sergei Polovnikov, editor-in-chief of the Content-Review news agency. At the same time, paradoxically, the average cost of communication tariffs is rather decreasing.
So, according to Polovnikov, the study showed that by the end of 2021, mobile communications in Russia have become the most accessible since 2017. The minimum package tariff for mobile communications fell by 15% compared to the first half of 2021 from 326 to 278 rubles. This happened due to the rebalancing of tariffs by operators as a result of the withdrawal of offers with unlimited mobile Internet from tariff lines. It is the factor of unlimited Internet in archival tariffs that Polovnikov considers the key to the current price increase.
"Operators regularly update archival tariffs. This is being actively discussed because operators update tariffs that are unfavorable for them (and, accordingly, for some reason, beneficial for the subscriber). For example, tariffs with unlimited Internet, closed for connection in the fall," Polovnikov notes.
However, for the majority of users, according to the expert, the current communication tariffs often turn out to be more profitable in terms of money than the old ones. The increase in prices, which are currently due to the fact that the unlimited options contained in them bring losses to operators.
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