The Ministry of Digital Development of the aggressor country Russia is developing a system of measures designed to transform the Russian segment of the Internet into a completely state-controlled infrastructure. The Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine reported this on May 3.
Instead of obvious blocking, which bloggers complain about en masse, Russia decided to use gradual economic and licensing suppression. The result will be high bills, poor communications and a lack of alternatives.
The Russian Ministry of Digital Development wants to introduce a fee (approximately $2 per gigabyte) for the use of international Internet traffic for mobile subscribers. The goal is to make it too expensive to use a VPN all the time. The average active user consumes 25–30 GB per month, and if the VPN is always on, all of this traffic can be classified as international, even if the person is just reading Russian news or watching TV series.
The department also plans to reduce the number of types of licenses for providers and increase the capital requirements of the provider company. The current 17 types of licenses are planned to be reduced to three, while sharply increasing the financial thresholds for entering the market. A basic license will require capital of at least $66 thousand, a universal license – approximately $400 thousand, a general license – more than $1.3 million. The current minimum authorized capital of a telecom operator in the Russian Federation is now approximately $134.
Such measures will lead to the liquidation or takeover of most companies, leaving only a few of the largest, fully controlled by the government, the review notes.
Separately, a ban on working in the field is being discussed for companies that have not installed SORM, a system that provides direct access to subscriber traffic and data.
