The Federal Antimonopoly Service will check user complaints about paid Internet distribution. The service sent requests to telecom operators to establish the circumstances, FAS told RBC.
In April, MTS began charging a fee for using a smartphone to distribute the Internet to other devices. The operator notified subscribers that they will now have to pay for the feature.
Previously, activating the hotspot was free. For subscribers of the operator, an additional package is activated at a cost of 49 rubles for 50 GB with a validity period of one day. The operator then said that only users with outdated rates would have to pay.
However, now, as the RBC correspondent is convinced, the fee for the access point is applied to other fees. In August, he received a message from MTS about the inclusion of an additional package for 49 rubles per day.
“You started distributing the Internet. This is a paid service. You can stop the distribution or continue it, then the payment will be deducted automatically,” the message said.
The operator’s hotline explained that the fee is charged to subscribers without additional Internet packages, for example, Premium (249 rubles) or Modem Mode (199 rubles).
On MTS itself, the publication declined to comment.
Experts say that about one in five use the Internet sharing feature. The FAS said that if antitrust violations are detected, they will take response measures.
Beeline introduced a fee for this service in 2019. As RBC writes with reference to messages on the forums, the operator Tele2 began to charge 30 rubles per day for turning on the access point at the new tariffs.
RB.RU checked this information and has not yet found out that Tele2 charges for creating an access point from a smartphone.
Author:
Natalia Gormaleva
Source: RB
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
