Why mobile operators don't have unlimited internet. Unlimited mobile internet will be canceled? We understand the situation. Goodbye cheap unlimited

The Federal Antimonopoly Service decided to look for logic in the actions of cellular operators, which almost simultaneously abandoned tariffs and options with unlimited Internet. The logic in their actions is not difficult to find. Will FAS find evidence of collusion?

The reason for the interest of anti-monopoly authorities in tariffs for mobile Internet was user complaints. Unlimited traffic for smartphones and tablets is a luxury unprecedented in the whole world, and Russians were able to use this luxury for just under a year. A person quickly gets used to good things, and therefore the abolition of unlimited at the same time raises questions and suspicions among all operators.

New Yota subscribers were the first to face traffic restrictions. Since January 2017, only old customers of this operator can use unlimited Internet. In February, Beeline (VimpelCom) and Megafon introduced the same restrictions, in March MTS joined them, and in April, unlimited disappeared from Tele2. Why did the cellular companies cancel the services in which advertising huge money was invested? They themselves tried to explain this by caring about subscribers.

Confusion in readings

Operators make incredible claims: users themselves want to pay for gigabytes and therefore ignore options and tariffs with unlimited traffic. Megafon said in February that the Megabenzlimit option was enabled “a small number of times”, and accordingly, it was deemed unnecessary and moved to the archive. True, if you believe the subscribers, the operator did everything to hide it from the public: the Megabeslim option was renamed to Unlimited Internet, its previous description disappeared from the operator's website.

MTS, in turn, say that the majority of users download no more than 5-6 GB per month through the cellular network, so it makes no sense to save unlimited. Official representative of MTS Dmitry Solodovnikov said that subscribers who used it earlier will retain unlimited traffic, new customers will be offered to buy gigabyte packages from mid-April.

Operators' words contradict figures: in 2016 mobile internet traffic in Russia grew almost one and a half times, almost 3.8 billion GB were downloaded via 3G and 4G networks. This is about seven times less than in fixed communication networks, but the growth rates of the mobile segment are rapid. The position of telecom operators is explained by another figure: revenues from mobile Internet are growing much more modestly, last year they increased by only 12%. Voice revenue is on the decline - more and more people are calling for free via Whatsapp, Skype and Viber.

Another explanation

Another version looks more plausible. According to the CEO of Tele2 Sergey Emdin, in 2016, in the market as a whole, unlimited tariffs accounted for only 25% of sales, but subscribers with such tariffs provided 50% of the network load. That is, a relatively small percentage of "unlimited users" can reduce the quality of communication services for other subscribers. But even this argument against unlimited traffic looks unconvincing, because old subscribers with such tariffs will not go anywhere. The operator can regulate the load on the network - reduce the download speed after the subscriber has consumed a certain amount of traffic per hour or per day.

On this topic

Operators announced the so-called "Yarovaya package" as another reason for rejecting tariffs with unlimited Internet. Amendments to the anti-terrorist legislation adopted last year oblige to store all user traffic on their servers. Allegedly, a large amount of data, the formation of which could have contributed to unlimited, will create a significant load on the equipment. But here it is pertinent to recall that cable Internet providers, which pass a significant share of Russian traffic through themselves, face the same problem, but they do not cancel unlimited tariffs.

"Fought and dispersed"

In 2016, shortly before the appearance of tariffs without traffic restrictions in Russia, the CEO of VimpelCom Mikhail Slobodin warned operators against this step. According to him, the market cellular communication can only grow by increasing the cost of mobile Internet. Cheap traffic packages harm the industry, and unlimited tariffs will set the maximum bar for the operator's income.

Nevertheless, already next month VimpelCom introduced a tariff with unlimited Internet, in May MTS also entered, in June Megafon joined them. Some experts believe that in this way the representatives of the “big three” reacted to increased competition from Tele2. By joining forces with Rostelecom, this company decided to become the third largest subscriber base in Russia by 2018. In 2016, 1.7 million people connected to Tele2, and the total number of its contracts approached 40 million.

Probably, each of the representatives of the “Big Three” perceived unlimited as an effective marketing tool for attracting and retaining subscribers. When unlimited traffic appeared for everyone, it began to hinder the development of the market as a whole, but none of the operators would have dared to cancel unlimited traffic unilaterally. All this allows the FAS to suspect the operators of collusion, but will it be possible to prove it as a fact? Now the department is studying the information provided by the cellular companies about the heavy load on the network, only after that it will make a decision on initiating or not initiating a case on violation of antimonopoly legislation.

In 2016, unlimited mobile Internet made Russia one of the most progressive countries, creating good opportunities for the development of the digital economy, Internet of things, telemedicine and online education. The development of such services could become a new source of revenue for cellular operators, but it is obvious that for now they prefer to make money by selling traffic packages to subscribers.

Russian cellular operators one by one they refuse tariff plans with packages unlimited internet... We are trying to figure out why Russians are deprived of unlimited traffic.

The Megafon company announced that it is no longer offering its customers the "unlimited Internet" service. Users who have connected the tariff before February will continue to use the capabilities of their service package, but new customers will have to pay for mobile Internet in accordance with the volume of traffic used.

Megafon explained the reason for the cancellation of the tariff to dissatisfied customers in its official Twitter: "An insignificant number of new connections, which on the scale of a federal operator essentially means a complete lack of interest."

However, this explanation is hard to believe. Especially after the speech of the CEO of VimpelCom (Beeline) Shelle Morten Johnsen, who in December last year told reporters at a press conference that unlimited tariffs are a road to nowhere, and from 2017 the company will begin to switch to a new pricing method tied to to mobile data transmission.

On January 25, another mobile operator, Yota, also switched to a new tariffication system. The company's service packages cost from 250 to 2500, while they include from 5 to 30 GB of Internet traffic. If the user runs out of all traffic in less than a month, then he will be asked to buy each additional 5 GB for 100 rubles.

Thus, of all the largest mobile operators only MTS and Tele2 have said nothing about the cancellation of unlimited packages.

What's wrong with unlimited

The volume of consumption of mobile Internet is growing annually, which cannot be said about the volume of all other services of mobile operators. Nobody has been using sms messages for a long time, "sms" have long been supplanted by messengers that are much more convenient for communication. And even phone calls, which have always made up the bulk of mobile operators' income, are now fading into the background. You can now make a call via WhatsApp or Skype for free, and again you only need the Internet.

Thus, the mobile Internet remains the only way for operators to make money, and by providing customers with unlimited traffic, they essentially set the maximum bar for their income, which they cannot earn more. Thus, unlimited tariffs negatively affect market growth. Last year, the revenues of all representatives of the so-called "big three" mobile operators have significantly decreased, so you shouldn't be surprised at the cancellation of unlimited traffic.

Besides new system pricing will appeal to those who talk more than surf the Internet - now justice will prevail, and they will not overpay for unnecessary traffic.

What about the West?

Those who are still indignant about how badly Megafon and Beeline are doing, trying to cash in on poor customers, should look at Western countries where the situation with mobile communications is completely different. If the average resident of Russia spends 300-600 rubles per month on mobile communications and the Internet, which is no more than 1-2% of his income, then in the USA, for example, the same needs from 50 to 100 dollars, which is translated into our money is from 3 to 6 thousand rubles.

Moreover, there is no such thing as unlimited in America at all. Major US carriers Verizon and T-Mobile have tariffs marked "unlimited", but they all have an upper limit - Verizon has 18 GB for $ 100 a month, and T-Mobile has 10 GB of 4G / LTE high-speed internet for $ 60 ... After the provided traffic is consumed, you will have the Internet, but it will work at the speed of the 2G network, that is, several times slower.

In Europe, the concept of unlimited Internet also does not exist, and 1 GB of traffic costs an average of 10 euros - about 630 rubles. Thus, the cost of services of mobile operators in the West is about 10 times higher than Russian price tags. We can only hope that the revision of the tariff policy will not bring us closer to Europe and the USA.

Apparently soon russian market the cellular network is transforming into an American one, where operators are not so generous with favorable rates with traffic. MegaFon and its Yota have already closed their unlimited limits for new subscribers. Beeline does the same. Rumors have already spread about the same decision on the part of MTS. Where and why the unlimited mobile Internet goes in 2017 - we'll talk in this article.

Goodbye cheap unlimited

Recall that at the end of 2016, the mobile operator Yota announced that it was closing the basic tariff with unlimited Internet. New subscribers can no longer connect to it, while old ones will continue to use it, but most likely it will not be for long.

@glomeeee Hello. For current users, unlimited will remain available. Tariffs with a limit will be introduced only for new customers - Yota - officially (@Yota_Russia) 13 January 2017

On February 1, 2017, MegaFon transferred its only tariff plan with unlimited traffic to the archive. The monthly fee was 600 rubles. As in the case of Yota, old subscribers continue to download gigabytes at this rate, but new ones will not be able to connect. Interesting fact: This tariff was launched just a couple of months before it closed.

Just a couple of days after MegaFon refused from unlimited, interesting news came from Ivan Kim, an analyst at VTB Capital. Kim said in his report that the management of MTS is considering plans to increase prices for their tariffs with unlimited Internet and just fixed traffic. Even the possibility of closing unlimited is allowed. It is about the “Smart Unlimited” tariff, which was launched by the operator in the spring of 2016. MTS is refuting the rumors so far, but it is unlikely that the official representatives could have acted otherwise.

You can no longer connect to these tariffs

On February 10, 2017, the VimpelCom operator, known under the Beeline brand, announced the closure of its postpaid tariffs with unlimited traffic. In the regions it is no longer possible to connect to the "All" tariffs, and in Moscow they received fixed traffic packages. All in all, Beeline has one unlimited plan called “Everything is Possible” - it is prepaid and quite expensive.

There is no news from Tele2 yet, but most likely this operator will do the same soon.

Who needed such plans? Tariffs with unlimited or conditionally unlimited mobile Internet are popular in their niche with a small number of subscribers. These are mainly geeks, people who actively use a smartphone or tablet, or those who do not have full access to the network and are forced to be content with a SIM card and modem from the operator. There are few such people, but they usually create a high load on the network. Those 10-20% of users with unlimited can generate more traffic than the other 80-90% simply because they do not overpay for additional gigabytes. Although in the case of unlimited, the traffic of such subscribers can already be calculated in terabytes.

Why do they refuse unlimited

The MegaFon company records its relative unpopularity as the main reason for the closure of its main unlimited tariff. This sounds at least strange, since in recent years it has not been advertised in any way, and it was difficult to find it on the official website of the operator - only via a direct link. It was not even in the general tariff grid. Sounds like a simple excuse. What then could be the real reason?

\u003d\u003e insignificant number of new connections, which on the scale of a federal operator essentially means a complete lack of interest @saldim - MegaFon (@megafonru) 4 February 2017

@redviza , non-public tariff plans and options are not created with the expectation that they will become popular with the majority of our subscribers - MegaFon (@megafonru) 5 February 2017

Higher: two conflicting tweets from the official MegaFon account.

Yota's rationale is a little more convincing. This operator controlled by MegaFon says that only no more than 30% of subscribers with unlimited tariffs consume traffic more than 5 or 10 GB. But exactly how much GB / TB these 30% of people download and give away - one can only guess. It may be simply unprofitable for operators to keep subscribers expensive in terms of traffic on cheap tariff plans.

There is also a theory that the same "Yarovaya package" is one of the main reasons for leaving unlimited tariffs... The MP's anti-terrorist amendment package suggests that operators and Internet providers will have to store a huge amount of information on their servers for several years. In the case of large amounts of data of "unlimited users" it will be very difficult and costly. Therefore, operators reinsure themselves in advance by closing the loopholes for leakage of "big data".

But most of all, the situation with unlimited Internet reminds me of natural development cellular networks in Russia. At the beginning of the 2000s, many of the first operators gave away their SIM-cards almost for nothing, and the tariffs for them were nowhere cheaper. Later, when cellular communications became popular, companies began to adjust tariffs based on their network maintenance costs. Therefore, it is quite possible that unlimited has become too popular among subscribers, and operators do not want to upgrade the network at all. However, this theory differs from the official statement of MegaFon.

Will there be unlimited in the future?

You can be sure that all mobile operators in Russia will revise their unlimited tariffs throughout 2017. This will apply to MTS and Beeline, and even Tele2.

However, unlimited is not going anywhere. Most likely, such an option will simply become more expensive - in fact, it will migrate to the so-called VIP tariffs for organizations and those who want to pay dearly for unlimited Internet anywhere. For example, "Beeline" has already left only one unlimited tariff "Everything is Possible" in the category of VIP-plans with a high fee, which must be paid in advance.

Unlimited tariffs can be called a relic of the past. Until now, they have remained nothing more than a banal marketing tool. Operators simply lured away subscribers with the help of cheap unlimited. Now that every company has a well-established customer base, it's time to grow and make more money. Tariffs with unlimited traffic do not help in this. Therefore, they are closed.

Over the past couple of years, we, as regular users of cellular services, have already got used to the fact that cellular companies do not offer us unlimited offers.

And so, by the end of the summer of 2018, MTS, as well as Beeline, like a bolt from the blue, returned options with unlimited access to the Network to their line of proposals. It is noteworthy that there were announcements of such services almost simultaneously.

Unlimited from MTS and Beeline

• Beeline has updated the "VseMoye" line, which now has an option to use the mobile Internet in unlimited mode. It is noteworthy that the option is offered free of charge, however, activate it remotely (via the Internet, website, personal Area, mobile app, USSD codes or SMS messages) is not possible. To activate, you must contact the offices of the company with a corresponding application. However, if you believe the rumors, you can not rush to do this, because in September Beeline will revise the current tariffs, and an option with "unlimited" will appear in the package line;
• MTS launched a separate package "Tariffische", which, by the way, I have already paid attention to separately. This package costs 650 rubles a month for subscribers, and for that kind of money, the company's clients, in addition to packages of minutes and messages, can count on unlimited Internet, as well as the option with unlimited for certain tariffs "A lot of Internet". However, there is a fly in the ointment in the phrase "unlimited", because when using file sharing services, the speed of access to the network can be significantly "cut" (up to 128 kb / s). And you cannot "share" such Internet for other devices.

Based on how modern operators are used to copying services and offering their subscribers analogs of the same tariffs and options with different names, it would be reasonable to assume that in the near future other actors in the Russian cellular market will offer their own tariffs and options with unlimited internet "on board". At least I'm pretty sure of that.

Unlimited from MegaFon

Just yesterday, MegaFon joined the arms race, adding unlimited in the home region on the tariffs of the “Turn on!” Series: “Communicate”, “Look”, “Look +” and “Premium” (though not in all regions). As in the case of "unlimited" from MTS, the use of torrents and distribution of the Internet to other devices is prohibited.

Tele2 plans for unlimited Internet

As for the operator Tele2, its representatives are delicately avoiding questions regarding the resumption of the provision of tariffs with unlimited Internet to their customers, referring to the fact that the company is carefully monitoring the market and does not exclude the possibility of introducing such offers.

In addition, Olga Galushina, the operator's representative, was surprised that the operators, who were once confident in the irrationality of introducing unlimited tariff plans, are now returning such offers again. I agree with Olga, I remember that the operators were confidently repeating that users simply do not consume such volumes of the Internet, and the average traffic consumption per month is about 6-8 gigabytes for one user.

Unlimited Internet on Yota

I pay attention to the Yota company only so that you, dear reader, understand that I have not forgotten about it. The fact is that Yota briefly commented on the situation with the return of unlimited tariffs, stating that they are not going to disclose plans for the further development of the company, just like commenting on the actions of other participants in the cellular market.

How the attitude of operators towards unlimited Internet has changed

Having dealt with the plans (or secrets) of the operators, I propose to recall how the history of the "relations" of Russian operators with unlimited Internet in tariff plans looks like.

In 2016, unlimited offers began to appear actively in the tariff lines of most operators, but a year later, at the very beginning of 2017, companies began to withdraw them from circulation. Then the main argument of the operators was the unprofitability of providing such services - high costs with a rather low demand of users.

The companies unanimously stated that the network cannot withstand the massive consumption of the Internet, and users do not really need it - 6-8 gigabytes a month is more than enough for most subscribers.

And now, another year passes, and we see the opposite situation, companies declare that subscribers do not want to think about any limits, using mobile Internet, they need complete freedom, which is why unlimited mobile Internet needs to return.

According to experts' forecasts, in 2019 more than 10 gigabytes of traffic will fall on one subscriber monthly, and with such consumption, it will be rational to think about activating an unlimited tariff. But even this does not become a decisive factor in favor of the return of unlimited, but the simplicity and transparency of the terms of such tariffs. Subscribers do not want to think about any subtleties and loopholes in the characteristics tariff packages, they just want to use the services, and here I totally agree. If companies can offer us tariffs with unlimited mobile traffic on affordable price, even higher than in some standard tariff plans, many subscribers will think about using them.

Prospects for mobile unlimited Internet

So what are the prospects for the new "arrival" of mobile unlimited on the Russian market? Independent analysts say such services will likely remain on the market for a while. But after a while, operators will inevitably feel a serious load on their networks, which will inevitably lead to a change in conditions, all kinds of restrictions, nuances and subtleties of traffic use will appear.

If we talk about numbers, then today, unlimited mobile traffic is of interest to only 5% of the user audience, which is about 5 and a half million people. And such users are called by operators "pumpers". This is understandable, because most of the mobile Internet in an unlimited volume is needed only by those who really consume a lot of traffic. One has only to go to YouTube and watch video instructions on how to bypass all sorts of operators' restrictions on downloading tens of gigabytes from torrent trackers, and it immediately becomes clear who these "rockers" are.

It is noteworthy that it is precisely a small proportion of such "rocking machines" that can influence how long unlimited offers will be delayed this time. Of course, if companies do not come up with rational ways to deal with such internet surfers.

And about money ...

Finally, I would like to note the financial side of the issue of returning offers with unlimited mobile traffic. It is easy to assume that the introduction of such tariffs will not bring the operator serious revenue, if at all will bring at least some benefit at first.

Moreover, if you look at the future, such tariffs may have a negative impact on the future financial statements of all operators in the Russian Federation.

Do not forget about the existence of the Yarovaya law, according to which providers will be forced to keep all traffic that passes through users' devices, and this is all - additional capacity, additional equipment, additional costs.

Thus, I suppose that unlimited offers, if implemented by operators, will not stay on the market for a long time, and very soon they will undergo significant changes, or they will again sink into oblivion and settle in the "Archive" section on the official websites of cellular companies.

February 6, 10:31 Megafon and MTS plan to abandon tariffs with unlimited Internet, as Yota did earlier this year. VimpelCom (Beeline) hints that their subscribers may also be left without this option, Tele2 is not going to leave its customers without unlimited Internet.

"The option is closed for new connections due to low demand. Over the past month, we saw an extremely insignificant number of new connections, which, on the scale of the federal operator, in fact means a complete lack of interest," Megafon representatives said in their Twitter, answering (,) one of the users.

MTS management considers it possible to increase prices on the market mobile communication, according to a review by VTB Capital analyst Ivan Kim following a meeting with the operator's management. We are talking, in particular, about tariff plans with unlimited mobile Internet. MTS plans to raise prices for these tariffs or completely abandon them already in 2017, Kim reports, citing the operator's executives. In addition, the MTS management admits the opportunity to reduce the size of mobile Internet traffic at regular package rates, the review says.

The MTS representative confirmed that such a meeting took place, but declined to comment in detail. The operator will analyze the consumption profile of its subscribers in order to offer them optimal tariffs, he said.<...>

Russian operators will gradually abandon unlimited tariffs, VimpelCom CEO Shell Johnsen predicted earlier. Operators simply have no other choice, he noted: 3G networks are already congested, and 4G networks are loaded very quickly.<...> VimpelCom representative Anna Aibasheva believes that unlimited tariffs, in fact, have turned into a marketing tool and, in fact, the actual traffic consumption for them is not much higher than for regular tariffs. Unlimited tariffs hold back the further development of the market, since the consumption of mobile Internet is growing, however, in the case of unlimited tariffs, both active users and those who use the Internet little pay equally, she explains.<...>

"T2 RTK holding" (Tele2 brand) does not plan to reduce the filling of the current packages in the near future and is not going to give up unlimited tariffs yet, but it will follow market trends, promises the operator's representative Konstantin Prokshin.

"Vedomosti"

There may be several reasons to eliminate unlimited limits. First, tariffs with unlimited traffic, as a rule, are more expensive than package tariffs, therefore they do not look so attractive and because of them one gets the impression that operators are artificially raising prices.

Secondly, traffic consumption at full unlimited limit in most cases is not much higher than at tariffs with restrictions. Perhaps there are single subscribers who pump out as much traffic as they can, but the operator needs them least of all, since they create a large load on the network.

Thirdly, by introducing a full unlimited limit, the operators themselves covered up opportunities for additional earnings on traffic and additional services... Another one possible reason - because of the operators, it is necessary to store all user traffic for six months, and with a full unlimited amount of data that needs to be kept on servers, it becomes unpredictably huge.

iGuides

March 28, 10:23 MTS Unlimited tariff is no longer unlimited, the company said. The standard package size is now only 10 gigabytes per month, for the remaining gigabytes you have to pay extra. MTS claims that the changes apply only to new subscribers, while current subscribers still have unlimited Internet.

Now standard size package at a rate of 10 GB, the operator informs about this on its website. The tariff fee dropped to RUB 550. per month, it includes 350 minutes and the same amount of sms to all Russian numbers. previous version tariff gave 200 minutes and the same amount of sms, but due to unlimited Internet it cost 589 rubles. from the second month of use (19 rubles / day). The operator has changed the conditions of other tariffs of the Smart line (earlier these tariffs also had unlimited Internet), but Unlimited was the hit of sales in this line.

The changes do not apply to the current subscribers of unlimited tariffs, assures the representative of MTS Dmitry Solodovnikov. The new "Unlimited", he said, is cheaper, and the price factor is still important for subscribers, especially in the regions. And against the background of a reduction in points of sale, a new offer - more affordable, with fireproof packages and an increased number of included minutes and sms - will increase the sales of contracts, the company expects.

Analysis of the consumption profile of MTS users showed that the majority of regular Internet users download less than 5-6 GB of data per month, Solodovnikov explains. However, if users still need unlimited Internet, after April 13, 2017 they will be able to connect a special option to one of three tariffs - Smart +, Smart top and Ultra, says a representative of MTS.