Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) is opening an investigation into Veon – formerly VimpelCom – regarding alleged roaming violations.
The regulatory watchdog launched the probe after taking note of the “unreasonably overrated” fees that the operator charges to travellers in Russia for inbound and outbound long-distance calls. In 2017, FAS ordered operators to abolish any “economically or technologically unreasonable difference in tariffs for subscribers travelling outside their ‘home’ region” without reducing service quality.
FAS stated that Veon had released a report related to the cancellation of these practices which failed to meet the specified standards laid out by the regulator. Russia’s other leading operators MTS and MegaFon are currently the target of similar probes by FAS.
Anatoly Golomolzin, the deputy head of FAS, noted that if any of the operators are found guilty of violating roaming regulation, “injunctions can be issued to transfer the income gained through violating the antimonopoly law to the budget”. The regulator noted that the fourth major Russian operator Tele2 had met its criteria.
