FAS opened a case against MegaFon due to tariff increase

MOSCOW 13 Oct — PRIME. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of the Russian Federation opened a case against MegaFon: according to the service, the company unreasonably increased tariffs, their increase in communication services, which took place in May, averaged 12%, the FAS reported.

According to the Federal Antimonopoly Service, in May MegaFon increased tariffs for communication services for more than 16.5 million subscribers “by an average of 12%.” It is clarified that the service also found that the level of tariff changes did not correspond to the level of inflation.

“In this regard, the FAS Russia conducted an analysis of the economic feasibility of the increase. The agency came to the conclusion that the increase in the company’s costs does not correspond to the increase in revenues from the increase in tariffs for communication services. This may lead to infringement of the interests of consumers. Megafon” case on signs of violation of paragraph one, part one of Article 10 of the Law on Protection of Competition,” the report says.

RIA Novosti sent a request to MegaFon.

In mid-April, the FAS published methodological recommendations for the gradual indexation of telecom operators’ tariffs, taking into account the current level of inflation, developed to ensure the development of the Russian economy under international sanctions.

The validity of changes in the tariffs of operators is determined by the service in connection with the correspondence to the change in inflation according to the weekly published data of Rosstat. A change in tariffs is recognized as reasonable if the level of such a change corresponds to inflation since the beginning of the year as of the last week of the month.