Russia (bbabo.net), - The Federal Antimonopoly Service initiated a case against MTS PJSC. The department considered unreasonable a sharp increase in communication tariffs in January. At the same time, experts not only consider the revision of prices justified, but also advise preparing for similar actions by other operators.
The FAS noted that since the beginning of 2022, MTS has increased tariffs by an average of 9.5%. The increase in prices affected more than 28 million subscribers.
"At the same time, the operator did not provide evidence of an increase in costs in an amount sufficient to justify the increase in tariffs. According to the service, the increase in tariffs in the absence of technological, economic and other justification violates the interests of consumers," the FAS noted.
The case was initiated under the Law "On Protection of Competition". It is still too early to talk about the amount of a potential fine: if the company is found to have violated antimonopoly law based on the results of the case, an administrative case will be initiated, within the framework of which a fine will be imposed.
The press service of MTS said they were ready to provide the FAS with the necessary clarifications. "We informed about the changes in advance and in the most detailed format so that subscribers could choose: to stay at the current tariff or switch to another tariff or subscription," the company said.
The increase in prices for communication services in MTS was explained by the growth of costs. "Operators are forced to adjust tariffs due to rising inflation, the cost of equipment and its delivery, rising electricity costs, the need to invest in the expansion and construction of new networks, and so on," the company explained, emphasizing that even taking into account the indexation, "communication services and mobile Internet in Russia remain cheap and accessible to everyone".
The Ministry of Digital Development noted that the formation of a tariff policy is the competence of operators. "The possibility of tariff indexation should be specified in the contract with the subscriber. If the level of price increase raises questions, the FAS takes the necessary measures," the agency said, adding that together with the market, "they are working out proposals that will help curb the growth of tariffs."
Member of the General Council of the Association of Antimonopoly Experts, partner of BGP Litigation Irina Akimova notes that the size of tariff indexation (in the case of MTS - 9.5%) is not a reason to draw conclusions about the company's guilt. When considering such cases, the FAS takes into account a number of factors. "It doesn't matter how much the price increase happened, if such an increase is fully justified by an objective set of factors," the expert explained.
According to her, the operators occupy a collective dominant position in the mobile communications market, so initiating a case under the Law "On Protection of Competition" is justified. "Based on the law enforcement practice of the FAS Russia, the prescription for this category of cases contains a requirement to bring prices to the level that existed before the violation, which can be called price containment," Akimova added.
MTS increased tariffs by an average of 9.5%, more than 28 million subscribers faced price increases
In turn, Denis Kuskov, CEO of Telecom Daily, believes that other companies such as Beeline, MegaFon and Tele2 should soon increase tariffs. "On average, the increase in tariffs for communication will be up to 10%. The increase in the cost of tariffs by MTS fits well into this framework," the analyst noted. According to him, MTS's explanation corresponds to the realities of the market - due to the growth of the dollar, companies incur additional costs for the purchase of foreign equipment.
The FAS regularly monitors the prices for the services of mobile operators. So, in December 2018, the department fined VimpelCom, MTS and MegaFon 737.5 thousand rubles due to high prices for intranet roaming. In addition, at the beginning of 2021, the case was initiated separately against Tele2, then the operator also increased the cost of services by an average of 13% from January 1. In October, the FAS fined Tele2 825.5 thousand rubles. At the end of December, the company announced a reduction in tariffs as part of the implementation of the order.
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