Moscow residents began complaining about mobile Internet malfunctions on the evening of March 5 Data Problems with the deployment of the “Durov Code” first appeared in the southern administrative district, and then in the city center. On March 6, Muscovites said that somewhere within one district everything was working, but several streets away there was no communication at all. Somewhere, according to them, the connection appeared for a few minutes, and then disappeared again.
At the same time, as Code Durov wrote, users noticed that mobile Internet partially worked in some regions: only some sites from . The same picture was observed in the metro when connected to the city Wi-Fi network – that is, it was not possible to log in through it, for example, to Telegram, which was not included in the “white list”.
On the same day, Kommersant conducted interviews with mobile operators and interviewers on the telecommunications market. Two sources in the newspaper said that the operators had received orders to limit the operation of mobile Internet in certain areas of Moscow. In “Direct Line” PresumablyThe outages were linked to “external restrictions,” but Megafon and T2 said there were no restrictions on the part of the operators. MTS declined to comment.
On the fifth day of the mobile communications outage, the assumption of a “white list” test emerged in Moscow certain RBC’s source on the information security market. “This test has been conducted in the regions for a long time, and now it has reached Moscow,” the publication’s interlocutor said.
Roskomnadzor said questions regarding the operation of mobile internet “should be sent to the Ministry of Digital Development.” The Kremlin said that “all restrictions on communications are carried out in strict accordance with the law” and are interpreted by security interests.
Meanwhile, Muscovites say they cannot contact friends and family, pay at cafes and shops, call a taxi or transfer money. Some users ComplainThat due to connection problems it is impossible to log into public Wi-Fi in Moscow. The unavailability of not only the Internet, but also mobile communications in some areas means that it is impossible to make calls for urgent needs, such as calling an ambulance.
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In addition to Muscovites, from communication interruptions, such He writes Small and medium-sized Kommersant companies, as well as courier, taxi and car-sharing services, are suffering greatly. One of the newspaper’s interlocutors in the telecommunications market, who was not named, estimated the total damage to Moscow’s businesses over five days at three to five billion rubles (based on the share of the digital economy in gross regional product and the size of restrictions). The Internet Defense Association’s calculator, which is also based on the share of the digital economy in GDP, He believesOne day of mobile communications outage in Moscow costs about 4.8 billion rubles.
On March 11, the Kremlin commented on the power outage again. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the restrictions would remain in place “as long as additional measures are needed to ensure the safety of our citizens.” “Another thing is that the problems that are now being recorded for the business should certainly become a topic of discussion in our relevant departments to try to find ways to reduce these losses,” Peskov added.