Russia (bbabo.net), - The first stage of the federal program to eliminate the digital divide (UTsN 1.0), which started in 2014, has been completed in the regions of the Far Eastern Federal District. High-speed Internet and LTE cellular communications have arrived in remote Far Eastern settlements.

- The last 13 access points have been put into operation. They are located in six regions - Kamchatka Territory (the village of Krutogorovsky, the villages of Ustyevoye and Krutoberegovo), in Yakutia (the villages of Aviaport, Tyaya, Aryktakh), Buryatia (the villages of Kholodnaya, Ust-Dzhilinda and Uakit), the Magadan Region (the village of Burkhala and the village of Tauisk) , Primorsky Krai (the village of Melniki) and in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug (the village of Amguema), - clarified at Rostelecom, which is the only state operator of the program under an agreement with the Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation.

The first stage of the UCN was designed for small settlements, where from 250 to 500 people live and where there is neither cellular communication nor Internet access. Almost 200,000 residents of the Far East now have free access to the global network using Wi-Fi technology at a speed of at least ten megabits per second. Villagers can use the public services portal, study and work remotely, and communicate on social networks. People immediately appreciated the new opportunities. For example, in 2021, residents of one settlement in Buryatia conducted 3.4 thousand Wi-Fi sessions, downloading an average of more than 1.1 gigabytes of information for each.

For seven years, more than 13 thousand kilometers of fiber-optic communication lines have been built in the Far Eastern Federal District under the UCN program in remote and hard-to-reach places, base stations with Wi-Fi points have been installed.

- The project turned out to be complex and difficult at the implementation stage. There were logistical problems, especially during the autumn months. Nevertheless, we fulfilled the contract on time. In addition, due to the development of infrastructure, it was possible to connect not only households, but also industrial facilities to the Internet, - says Andrey Kartashov, vice president - director of the Far East macroregion of a company providing digital services and services.

Meanwhile, in the spring of 2021, the UCN 2.0 project was launched in Russia, designed for small settlements where from 100 to 500 people live. So far, four pilot regions of the Far Eastern Federal District have been included in it - Sakhalin and Magadan regions, Kamchatka and Primorsky territories. Access points using Wi-Fi technology and cellular communications appeared in 14 villages, nine of which are located in Primorye.

According to a contract between the government of the Republic of Sakha, the municipality and Rostelecom, a fiber-optic cable was stretched for the first time beyond the Arctic Circle - to the Yakut village of Olenek

In December 2021, the Ministry of Digital Development promised to publish the approved UCN 2.0 targeted program for the current year based on the results of the popular vote on the State Services portal. Until now, there is no information about which settlements entered it. Only the quota for each subject of the Federation is known.

Regional authorities call the UCN program an important stage in the development of communication services in small remote settlements, but this project alone is clearly not enough. For example, in Transbaikalia this year they are going to install the Internet and cellular communications in 48 villages and towns.

- 127 settlements are included in the UCN 2.0 program, of which 26 are for 2022. We must provide 22 villages with communications at the expense of the regional budget under the program of border territories, - said Sergey Gordeev, Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Trans-Baikal Territory. - But we still have 80 settlements without funding, where there is no cellular communication and the Internet, as well as eight villages where there is only voice communication. And besides, there are 46 settlements with less than 100 inhabitants, and four with more than 500 people, which is why these villages do not fall into the UCN program. It is necessary that telecom operators increase their investment programs.

In some regions, their own, regional and regional programs have been developed and are being implemented, funds are allocated for the development of communication services in small towns. So, in 2020, under a contract between the government of the Republic of Sakha, the municipality and Rostelecom, for the first time, a fiber-optic cable was extended beyond the Arctic Circle - to the Yakut village of Olenek. As a result, the Olenek Evenk national region switched from satellite channels to terrestrial ones.

- A lot of construction is going on in remote areas where the need for modern communication services is critical. Without the help of regional governments and municipal administrations, we would not have been able to cope. For example, in Kamchatka, in the Milkovsky district, 556 families were connected to unlimited Internet at a speed of 200 megabits per second, says Andrey Kartashov.

Thanks to the regional project "Khabarovsk Territory in touch" in 2021, mobile Internet appeared in 36 settlements. In some, they used backbone optical communication networks built as part of a federal project to connect socially significant objects to the Internet. Without this solution, a rather expensive infrastructure would have been required.- Further, with the support of the regional administration, we laid distribution networks in settlements. Without such interaction, it would be impossible to launch the Internet for residents there, - emphasizes Aleksey Raskol, acting. director of the Khabarovsk branch of a digital service provider.

The company says that there are five regions in the Far Eastern Federal District where it is necessary to use federal financial opportunities to develop the network, because there is no direct commercial interest for contractors there. In addition, the desire to earn money alone is not enough to enter such difficult territories for doing business.

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