MINSK, 7 August (BelTA) – A regular round of Belarusian-Russian negotiations on cancelling roaming charges took place in a videoconference format on 7 August, representatives of the Belarusian Communications and Informatization Ministry told BelTA.
The Belarusian side was represented by Communications and Informatization Minister Konstantin Shulgan while the Russian one was led by Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications, and Mass Media Oleg Ivanov. Representatives of antimonopoly bodies and telecommunications companies of the two countries also took part in the conference.
The negotiations focused on discussing current results and future actions of the sides in implementing a roadmap on cancelling roaming charges in the Union State of Belarus and Russia.
Konstantin Shulgan said that the Belarusian side had done its part. The completion of all the measures to drop roaming charges on schedule – by 1 October 2020 – now depends on how fast the Russian side reconciles proposals of Belarusian mobile carriers, in particular, proposals concerning the prevention of illegal phone traffic termination.
Konstantin Shulgan called for focusing efforts on preventing frauds and unauthorized actions with regard to telecommunications networks. “Our common goal is to find a consensus and complete the work on dropping roaming charges on schedule. The Belarusian communications administration has completed all the stages of the work in compliance with the roadmap. We expect the Russian side to do the same so that we could sign the resulting document on cancelling roaming charges on time,” the official said.
Belarus and Russia have been working on dropping roaming charges in the Union State of Belarus and Russia since 2017. The relevant roadmap was approved in December 2019.
