MINSK, 2 May (BelTA) – Belarus will send new proposals on ways to drop roaming charges to Russia, BelTA learned from Belarusian Communications and Informatization Minister Konstantin Shulgan on 2 May.
The official said: “Work is in progress. The first variant has already been sent to the government for the sake of dealing with issues. But we didn't stop at that. Together with our Russian colleagues we came up with another variant during the TIBO expo. We will send this variant to the Russian side so that they could analyze it and tell us what they think. In my opinion, the variant we are working on right now will allow us to go ahead with the plan. No, it does not provide for cancelling roaming charges by the end of the year. The process may need two to three years to finish but we could work synchronously and would understand what we are trying to achieve. We have already developed our own vision of the process. It has been agreed with Belarusian participants. We now intend to get Russia's approval.”
The communications and informatization minister noted that Belarus is in favor of a smooth and measured approach to dropping the roaming charges. “The process may be slower but it will allow us to reduce the financial burden on users and mobile carriers,” he stressed. “It should be coordinated work, which will allow resolving the problem in a calm manner with the least losses. It should be done smoothly, over certain periods, using control points, at which we can analyze how the work is going.”
BelTA reported earlier that work to drop roaming charges in the Union State of Belarus and Russia is in progress in line with the resolution passed by the Supreme State Council of the Union State of Belarus and Russia on 30 June 2017. Similar work is in progress within the framework of the Eastern Partnership Initiative.
