Director of the Coordination Center for TLD RU Andrey Kolesnikov said: “We are satisfied that the Coordination Center guided this project: the Minister of the most innovative sphere used the Internet for its main purpose. Besides, we saw the confirmation that the ideas the Coordination Center has been working over for the past year are topical: Internet reliability and safety, implementation of the national Cyrillic domain .РФ, Internet management problems – these are the issues our users are really concerned of”.
For ten days before the on-line conference Internet users were asking their questions to the Minister at Mail.Ru portal that provided quite a representative range of problems topical to about 5.000 users of the Russian internet segment, from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok, and abroad. As the Internet was chosen as the communication environment, a significant number of questions were expected to be about the Network. The questions analysis showed that over 40% of the questions were devoted to the Internet disparity, the future of Skype, Internet management, requests to make the Internet more accessible for all the layers of the population.
Users’ questions and addresses confirmed the non-beneficial situation of Internet development in the regions that is often called “Internet disparity” or a “digital break”. Price overview of a wideband access in the Russian regions vividly shows: the prices are decreasing where competition appears.
Questions rating by communication segments:
Internet – 42,5%
Telephone services – 19,5%
Mobile communication – 11%
Postal communication – 6%
Digital TV – 4%
Satellite communication – 2%
Other – 15%
Among the questions of interest to the heavy Internet users the important ones are the issues of “purity” of the favourite communicational environment, its efficiency and protection.
“We have received another confirmation that the social activity of the Coordination Center for TLD RU is highly topical. Support of hotlines against unlawful content and active participation in the social initiative “Safe Internet Year” – this is quite a material answer to the concern of users who care what children see in the Internet”, - said Michail Yakushev, Head of the Council of the Coordination Center for TLD RU.
Coordination Center for TLD RU posts the complete transcript of the Minister’s interview.
Vyacheslav (interviewer): Good afternoon, Igor Olegovich!
Alexandra (interviewer): Good afternoon, Igor Olegovich!
Igor Schegolev: Good afternoon.
Vyacheslav: We are the students of Journalism Department of MSU.
Alexandra: We are starting the internet-conference of the Minister for Communication and Mass Media Igor Schegolev.
Vyacheslav: We will be asking the questions of the Internet audience Mail.ru was gathering for ten days. Currently over 4 thousand questions are gathered. No more questions are accepted.
Schegolev: I counted, there were about 5 thousand questions at night already.
Alexandra: You are to answer the most often repeated questions. So the ones that are considered the most significant and topical by the Internet community.
Vyacheslav: And the first questions is from “Hunter” user – what do you personally expect from this communication, information of what kind do you want to get?
Schegolev: I want to learn the real situation in the country. There will always be some problems and some unsolved issues in the regions. The authorities should always have the feedback from every citizen of the country, even from the most distanced corners. And Internet community is a live communication, though virtual.
Alexandra: There are several popular topics in the questions asked by the Russian population in the Internet. You might have seen it when you were looking through the site, one of the most popular questions, the whole country is concerned of, is about the Internet access.
Vyacheslav: Alexey Guschin (gushin-av777@mail.ru) asks the most painful question – is it possible to make the Internet free?
Schegolev: The Internet has already turned into the whole industry and if it were used only by the people who work for themselves, write some issues and require no salary for this, we would have free communication networks, and we might think about it. But this is hypothetical and unreal. Such model is not applied anywhere as this is impossible. You should keep up these communication lines, you should renew the equipment, you should pay those who create the content, the information we all gain from the Internet. And it is clear that such a giant, global model cannot work without money. That’s why I think this is unreal.
Alexandra: “Santa Сlaus” reminds that some time ago Dmitry Medvedev promised cheap Internet. Will this ever happen or not?
Schegolev: This is the happening already. We have started with this, in large cities unlimited Internet access has already become widely popular, and these are very moderate amounts. There are regions where this is not the case yet, but we are working over this. And now Santa Claus would have better started with congratulating us with the New Year, at least, the school year. Using the opportunity, I congratulate you on the beginning of the new school year.
Vyacheslav: Question from “Inna Uchitel” (inna_uchitel@mail.ru). Is it possible to create in Russia a sole public Internet provider? Is it sensible from the economic perspective?
Schegolev: We are aware that the Internet emerged as a very flexible technological and economic structure, which evolves and updates itself very rapidly. The practice shows this can be best achieved in the conditions of competition. Meanwhile, monopolists at a certain stage are apt to dictate their conditions, increase prices, thus, travelling along the same cycle, we will be back to the already discussed question, that is, the services being provided at a higher price. And this will scare many users off. That is why, it seems to me, this is inappropriate today. There is no need in this.
Alexandra: Alexander Babich (ababich54@mail.ru) from the Northern Osetia asks, is this normal that there is one Internet provider in the Northern Osetia? The price for 128 kilobit speed of the unlimited internet is 800 roubles.
Schegolev: I am not sure that I know the situation better than our user, watcher, reader, listener. As far as I know, beside the affiliation of STC (the regional company) there are at least two more providers in the Northern Osetia. They all have approximately the same prices, the difference is not very big, though there is some. So it is wrong to say there is a monopoly there. The practice shows that artificial creating of the competition is not always a success. The companies go to the regions where they see the demand, where they find the opportunity to get benefit. Of course, at the places where competition is suppressed the state should step in and, on the contrary, create the conditions for the companies to go to the spheres with the real public demand. As to the Northern Osetia, I think there are competitors there already. With the growth of the number of users there, the competition will grow, too, I hope, and this will finally lead to the prices decrease. I think, STC will set an example in it, I hope.
Vyacheslav: Internet audience and Edward Kozhokar are worried: when will a new Act on the Internet be promulgated …?
Schegolev: As far as an Act on the Internet is concerned, we need to understand what is going to be its primary subject and how we are going to regulate that. Internet is a strictly cross-border phenomenon that has no analogues. It has recently emerged in the international legal area, too, and it is argued there has been no common attitude towards it as yet. The technology is such that if one tries any punitory, repressive measures in a country, they would hardly be a success, even if we imply assault on obvious offences. Making such measures against the offences effective necessitates having the international community come to some consensus on the nature of these phenomena that must be countered and which methods one needs to employ to do so. So far the common perspective has been developed to a certain extent, say, with regard to child pornography and cybercrime. Hopefully, in the foreseeable future, there will appear if not broad international agreements but at least recommendations by the bodies that are engaged particularly in regulation of communication networks as to how to counter all this. It is only then that we would contemplate the idea of how to fix such recommendations at the national level. As to the Act on Communication and the Act on Mass Media, naturally, new phenomena appear, technical and economy models that require description. I think, with the understanding that these issues require regulation we will revise the acts, again, being very careful not to ruin the balance formed in both these spheres.
Alexandra: Anna Gordeeva laments that all the questions, addresses, sites’ names have to be put down in English, which is not convenient. When will it become possible to put them down in Russian?
Schegolev: As far as questions and addresses are concerned, I would doubt so. In the Russian segment of the Internet, we put down data and use search engines in Russian. As concerns sites’ names, if this is what the user means, we employ primarily English, for this is the language in which, as a matter of fact, the Internet has emerged and which has become the most widespread language in the Internet. But perhaps the user has known that we are in talks with the ICANN, which runs the Internet, on obtaining the right to do this in Russian, and we are among the forerunners to receive this power. So, we are hoping that in a very near future those who felt not that comfortable with English would be able to use Internet using Russian.
Alexandra: This will be great.
Vyacheslav: Grigory Rudnisky: will legal measures against cyber squatters be toughened?
Schegolev: Yes, this is the phenomenon that frustrates many developers of sites. Domains appear to be already snatched up by smart guys and of course we need to think how to counter this. But very often such procedures prove to be long-lasting and not that efficient. How will we be able to help, so to say, victims or those who may potentially suffer after the launch of our Russian-language domain .РФ? We shall allocate a certain period of time so that trademarks owners and those who most often suffer from cybersquattering enjoy a priority registration. So, we will unlikely to promptly remedy everything, but we will help to sort out certain things.
Alexandra: The next question is by Elena. She asks: when will Sochi, the city of the future Olympic Games, have the Internet of not antediluvian, but European level?
Schegolev: We should understand what European level is, because the Internet has a different speed in different European countries. But honestly, it is due to the future Olympic Games that we are creating a modern infrastructure there, including communication. The Organisational Committee has several partners already – the leading Russian companies in communication – and we count to have good opportunities for the Internet, both wired and wireless, in the nearest future.
Alexandra: It would be good to have it not only in Sochi but in other cities, too.
Schegolev: We are working over other cities, too.
Vyacheslav: Anastasia Feonova asks, whether steps will be taken against the arbitrariness of content operators? SMS to a short number are a hole for the criminal money turnover. What measures are taken to stop the crime in this sphere?
Schegolev: As it is about fighting the crime, it would be right to ask this question to our law machinery and, partially, to legislators who could have paid attention to this. Currently we are having consultations with communication providers, they realise the problem, and in our viewpoint the first, but not the final solution would be to make it evident to the service users what this will cost them for real. So that the price of a call or an sms is evident. And so that they could clearly understand that these are the issues that work not so much for them, but for those who offer this service. And I agree that this service is not quite correct, however, it is not yet described in the laws as evidently criminal. This is why I said that this is the issue not only we should think over, but the legislators, too.
Alexandra: A very acute question from Marina Kurysheva, Anna Tikhonova, Galina Nikolaevna, and Inna Zaitseva: when will the service be created that will really punish the ones who push porn advertisement at harmless sites? Someone should be responsible for this, and people should see (in mass media or the Internet) the faces of these immoral people, and also we would like to know their punishment.
Schegolev: Yes, again, this is the issue on which we collaborate with special units of the Ministry of the Interior. There is some progress. As to us, this year we have supported the social initiative “Safe Internet Year” aimed at determining such harmful occasions and searching for the ways to stop them. In particular, together with this action’s organisers we have received more than 3000 requests, and decisions were made on 1000 of them, accordingly, content providers have stopped the acceptance of such a negative content, and we count on the support of the Internet audience. We hope the users will more often address us and inform where and on what occasions they have seen such forbidden content. These issues are legally forbidden here. And we hope for the help to fight them.
Alexandra: The next question by Aristophan: Is it possible to free the Internet from viruses and spam in the future?
Schegolev: This is the endless chase of those who create various protection barriers and those who are trying to break these barriers. Again, this is not so much a Russian phenomenon only, it is international. And while there will be virus-creators, I think, we will have to fight them. The question is who is quicker and how efficiently we will suppress these viruses. I think, it would be wrong to say that by some year we will get rid from viruses.
As to spam, there is no final understanding now on what to consider a spam. Very many companies are working over this, I mean, program-wise, mathematically, and these are the things to be cut off not by a decision of a certain person or several people, some program barriers have to be opposed to them. And how to differentiate the mailing of some state authorities or some advertising actions that were approved by the Internet users from spreading large volumes of unapproved information, the one that is unpleasant to the users?
I think, with time Internet will find the protection tools by itself, in particular, resources will appear where spam dislikers will be united, then it can be stated that mailing to this resource is unacceptable. If you use a set of sites formed by these people you will be protected from spam to a significant extent. But these are the methods related more to self-regulation rather than to the external state regulation. Unfortunately, there are no efficient tools to resist this yet, and I think, we will have to look for them for some time.
Vyacheslav: Oleg Volkov and Boris A. want to learn your attitude to perusal of the Internet users’ traffic and censorship in the Net.
Schegolev: As for censorship, in this country, it is not permitted by the law. As for perusal, this, I believe, is an unreal thing – just unreal. There are cases when one may carry out operational-investigative measures and when the access to citizenry’s private communication is granted, but this is done in compliance with the law and in line with the effective legislative regulation. But as to making it a system and tolerating this as a routine and allowable phenomenon – this is not our cup of tea.
Alexandra: Question by “Good I” and Alexander Efremov, many questions about the expensive Internet traffic in the country. Maybe, this is because the country providers are monopolists? And why is communication at the Far East more expensive than in Moscow?
Schegolev: Communication in the Far East is more expensive than in Moscow firstly, because this is far and the information has to be transferred to long distances, and this influences the price much, accordingly. Secondly, because there are much fewer Internet users at the Far East so far as compared to Moscow and Saint Petersburg. As I mentioned, the companies are working to make the tariffs clear, reasonable, and financially justified.
Vyacheslav: A school year has started and the question is about the Internet at schools. According to Konstantin Kuz’min konst-kuzmin@mail.ru from Vologda region, schools have no system solution. He is outraged: a dial-up Internet with the speed 12 KBit/sec is a profanation. How can you comment on it?
Schegolev: I would start with the speed of 12 KBit/sec – of course, this is a mockery. No normal Internet access can be spoken about with such speeds. That is why I would advise Konstantin to address Rossvyaz'komnadzor, they will check whether this is true and will work with those who provide this Internet to the school. As to the absence of a system solution, I agree. Almost all the schools have Intenet access already. And so far there are not enough people who could teach them how to do this right. And of course, this is something to learn. As far as I know, the Ministry of Education and Science is thinking over it already, the local and regional authorities are thinking of it, and arrange the courses – this is generally a very big and serious issue of increasing people’s computer literacy. I think that schools, of course, should be ahead here and at the same time should teach not only how to use the simplest computer programs, but, in particular, to form very reasonable attitudes to the Internet among children. They should understand that this is a very convenient mode for the development of their personality if they use it to search for useful information and widen their scope. And it can also serve quite the opposite purposes if they look at the moving pictures for days and focus on some completely senseless content – lots of which can be found in the internet, unfortunately. If such culture appears, I think, firstly, we will feel all this rather quickly, and secondly, the ability to process such flows of information can be formed for the society in total only. If you eat all the time, this is clear what will happen to your body. But so far we have not come to the understanding that if we stuff ourselves with information all the time, nothing good will come out. So you should set some limits, some informational diet: look through the mail for 40 minutes, look for some information, and make a break. I think, this will come with time.
Alexandra: Igor Olegovich, a question from Vagiz Gabbasov. He writes that there is internet access in all the schools, but most of the school leavers today do not know how to use it. And he asks how to solve this issue.
Schegolev: My previous answer can be applied to this question, too. Really, there should be both the teachers who know how to work with it, and the users should somehow develop the elementary Internet-rules – this is not very difficult. I think, you remember how you were starting with the Internet: it is difficult at first, and then you understand that there is some logic, you learn to use search engines, to select information for yourself, and then it becomes very simple.
Vyacheslav: Alfrit user alfrit@mail.ru writes that the support of the “First Aid” program for the Russian schools ends in December 2010. What will be next?
Schegolev: Really, this program was accepted when we were trying to put the usage of software at schools in order, when there were lots of pirate software, and then a package was prepared with 50 program disks, that were to help with overcoming this transitional period. Now together with the Ministry of Education and Science we are thinking that children should know how to use the so-called proprietary software that is mainly created by large companies, and also free software as it is cheaper to buy and often provides good opportunities. And, firstly, creative ones, because often this software is easier to work with in terms of creating new programs. You do not have to open the codes as in case with proprietary software. Anyway, there is some work done in this direction, and I think that in the nearest future our school leavers will be able to master not only the famous programs currently available in the market, but also the new ones, including those based on free software.
Alexandra: Julia Bogatyreva juliet_serp@mail.ru directly asks you, Igor Olegovich, please, make a benefit for the invalids for the Internet usage, if possible.
Schegolev: A number of companies are doing this already, including the companies from “Svyazinvest” group in Moscow. In particular, there is a discount for the invalid. I think, this is the example that in the nearest future can be extrapolated for the country, and of course, we feel responsibility here. Now we are working to subscribe boarding schools, firstly, the ones for the invalid children. And as to the people who have limited transportation opportunities, we are thinking of it, too, but we count on the assistance of the regional and local authorities. Because such benefits are their responsibility.
Vyacheslav: A user with “8080abc” address asks you to implement GNU/Linux in all the institutions that belong to your Ministry. They need free software!
Schegolev: Yes, we are thinking of it and working over it. In some places we have already installed this software in the test mode. Now we see which one is more convenient, more acceptable for our purposes and of course, we will be implementing this actively. Moreover, we will introduce the norms for the purchase of free software and other budget institutions are discussing this.
Alexandra: You have not fewer questions about communication as compared to the Internet. As a rule, these are the questions about bad communication, future of the codes, radio frequencies, and development perspectives. So, the question by Svetlana Khomutova: “What telephone company will be officially used during the Olympic Games in Sochi? Will it be one company or several of them?”
Schegolev: These are not our rules. These are the rules of the International Olympic Committee: the companies who want to work at the Olympic Games, serve both the participants, and the organisers of the Games, and the guests should gain the status of a telecommunication partner. Such tender has already been conducted and the winners are two Russian telecommunication companies – Rostelecom and Megafon.
Vyacheslav: The user elyjack asks, when will the mobile providers observe the Russian laws? The providers regularly violate the paragraph 310 of the RF Civil Code, change the condition terms unilaterally. Namely, "Uralsvyaz'inform" finds it possible to change unilaterally even not the tariffs, but the tariff plans of their clients.
Schegolev: There are certain rules that oblige the companies to warn the clients beforehand of the change of their tariff plans. In case such violations occur, this decision can be appealed in court. The objective of the state regulator in communication, and this is our Ministry, is not to watch certain violations, but to think how to settle this in the whole country, getting the claims from our citizens. Recently I met the heads of MRK company we were talking about, and they said that by the end of September they will introduce maybe not the forums but pages at their sites where the users will be able to leave such claims, and the companies will inform the Ministry about how they react to these claims. I think, we will be able to solve the question of our user very soon.
Alexandra: The next question from “Cande” user. He asks why the same telephone number for emergency services cannot be made for each mobile operator (01, 02, 03).
Schegolev: You might have heard that there is such a project “112”, it will make it possible to call one number for any help. But this is a rather complicated project as far as engineering and arrangement are concerned. As a step to it, a three-digit number will soon be introduced for all the emergency services that will be the same for all the providers. So we are making the first step here, and very soon you will be able to call for these services with a three-digit number no matter what provider you use.
Vyacheslav: “Leon” user asks whether the island Russkiy will become closer to Russia or to Japan after the summit in terms of the modern communication?
Schegolev: As to the Russkiy island, the name itself shows its closeness to Russia. And I think, the task is not only to build good communication at the island, but to make communication good all over Russia. This is what we are constantly working over, but as we will have to receive lots of VIP guests at the summit, it is natural that good-level communication should be provided to them. So I hope it will be very modern, very good, not only at the island itself, but in Vladivostok, too, and generally in the region.
Alexandra: “Net” user writes: “Why did you order the Post of Russia to give the letters to force institutions without the legal decision violating article 23 of the Russian Federation Constitution?”
Schegolev: This is not true. This is the example of misunderstanding. The thing is that the investigation when the force institutions can get access to the postal communication of the citizens is possible only by a legal decision. Accordingly, when such people come to the post, they should have the legal decision available. And our Order described in what conditions this should be done. So, it is not that you can take any mail at ay place and do anything you want with it. The Order described how this should be done, how the rooms for this should be equipped, first of all, to avoid violating the rights of the citizens not mentioned in the orders brought to us by the force institutions. And I think this is kind of a flash-mob, when such a misunderstanding turned into quite a serious objection. We realised the problem complicacy and in no way intended to allow any violations. We brought the existing document to conformity with the Constitution and the Russian laws.
Vyacheslav: Zoya Shilina asks why does the communications central taps its advertisement to the home phone including mornings and weekends?
Schegolev: Of course, this is a violation, because advertising is regulated by the Russian laws. Such mode of obtruding advertisement is not described by law. I think, you can first address Rossvyaz'komnadzor, and should they consider it necessary, in case their influence does not work, they can go further.
Alexandra: Question by the users Irog Runin and Serega 126. They ask: “Why is the price of roaming almost the same for all the providers? Why do mobile providers in other countries, in particular, in Europe, offer more affordable tariffs to their users, different from the Russian ones 2,5 times and more?”
Schegolev: We should see and compare. By very many characteristics telephone communication services in our country differ to the best from the European ones. And as to roaming prices, this is also related to the size of our country. We have a large country, accordingly, long-distance communication requires much money, and this influences the roaming price.
Vyacheslav: User Kamrad3871 asks, when will it finally be possible to keep the mobile number changing the place of residence?
Schegolev: The decision about mobile number transfer is very serious in organisational and technical viewpoints. We are working over this, and we work with the companies of the sphere, and with the users’ representatives. I think we will try to find this problem solution, too.
Alexandra: Aleksey Aschekin asks: “We have been promised long to have the opportunity to change the mobile provider without losing the number in 495 code. I wonder, if I will live to this day”.
Schegolev: Of course, he will. Do you remember when mobile phones appeared? It was in quite a far past for your generation, and for us – almost yesterday. A decision was made to give the “curved”, as you call them, numbers without the link to geographical zones. Other numbers were linked to geographical zones. We are now preparing a new numbers plan, due to which the number will become longer, you will have to dial more digits, but this split into “direct” and “curved” numbers will disappear.
Vyacheslav: Anatoly from Ishim district of Tumen’ region is interested: “Why is it so difficult to install a wired telephone in the rural area?”
Schegolev: Yes, this is Ural federal district. I think, the companies will see what is going on in Ishim district. But generally, it is quite evident, long-distance wired communication is expensive. And the number of users and, accordingly, the amount of money they will pay for these telephones will not cover the expenses. At a certain stage we made a decision that we will bring telephone communication at least to most of the settlements in the form of coin-box telephones. And we have almost coped with this task. Naturally, it is also important that other citizens have the opportunity to install a telephone at home, too. The issue is what economy model is more profitable: wired or wireless, i.e., mobile. I think that wireless communication is the most profitable in this situation because you can cover quite a big region with one basic station. Both the companies and the Ministry are seriously thinking over this problem solution. Many countries have special programs to provide communication to the rural area. We have such a program, too. It is fulfilled by the Communication Agency. It is clear that everything cannot be done in a moment. But gradually we are moving to the rural settlements where there are no such telephones. The funniest thing is that the biggest percentage of such settlements is not in Siberia and over the Urals, as you might think, but in the Central Federal District, not so far from Moscow.
Alexandra: “Otstavnoy Kozy Barabanschik” and Stiv Poborsky write that Moscow telephone numbers in the Moscow region are being transferred to regional ones. Back to the XIX century?
Schegolev: No, on the contrary, to our XXI century. Because the difficulties we had with the split into Moscow and regional numbers are related to them being considered long-distance, accordingly, different tariffs were applied. And the changes we are making now will place them all in one tariff zone and we will have no difficulties we face now. And the reason for this is that the numbers resource in this set of digits is almost exhausted: there are not so many numbers left in 495 zone, if any. They appear if only someone refuses them. So we have to think about how to provide the majority with smallest losses. As to the tariffs, we are trying to make the calls from one zone to another are not related to higher tariffs.
Vyacheslav: Irina Tsybakova from Profsoyuznaya street complains that with the number change in 499 it is impossible to make a call, only one answer – the line is overloaded, call back later. Maybe, this is the collusion of mobile providers?
Schegolev: No, we have not seen such things yet. I think, these are some malfunctions in the communications central and you should try addressing MGTS with it, but anyway our colleagues are listening to our communication now. I think they will see and check what the line overload is related to in the district.
Vyacheslav: Andrey Krivov wrote that his telephone number does not work and he cannot find the organisation that provided communication services in Khimki, in Podrezcovo district, Shkolnaya street, 1, building 2, with the Moscow telephone number. What should he do?
Schegolev: I think, he should firstly address not the Ministry but repair bureau. It is quite clear that this is related not to the inactivity of the communication people, but most likely, he was doing repair works and damaged the cable at home. This is quite easy to correct and there are such specialists.
Alexandra: Dmitry Strunyashev asks by what criteria the subscribers are selected to install a telephone. For instance, in Chernigovka village, he considers relations to be prior. Dmitry has been waiting for the telephone to be installed for over than four years.
Schegolev: Chernigovka village – what regions is this? He did not indicate this, so it will be more difficult to react. Of course, legally there is no such notion in communication. Of course, there is some abuse, but the sites of our companies have the sections that are aimed to solve such problems. Definitely, these are the local violations.
Vyacheslav: Svetlana Oltseva asks why in Dubinino village of Krasnoyarskiy krai the communication is bad (audibility, the wrong subscribers are connected)?
Schegolev: Just the same. You could have addressed your providers directly, and they will find the reason rather quickly. If this is “Sibirtelecom”, you should contact the company. They will help.
Alexandra: Igor Olegovich, please, regard the possibility to cancel the registration of CB range walkie-talkies used by long-distance drivers. When will the corruption feeder of CB communication of the civil range be cancelled?
Schegolev: Communication is such a thing where you should see whether the ranges our users are asking about have the special-purpose communication, then we can understand whether this cancellation is possible. As to the walkie-talkie type the users are asking about, we will cancel their obligatory registration with the power under 10 watts in the nearest future. I should check it. Our general aspiration now is to determine the ranges, the equipment types permission for which could be generally received. Not for every particular case. So that you need a notification in a certain range, but not the permission. We are working over the different communication ranges, and these walkie-talkies are in line.
Vyacheslav: Just the soul cry from Mikhail Demidov from Moscow. Please, procure that the document is accepted that simplifies the installation of radio ham antennas on the roofs.
Schegolev: This is the issue related not only to the interests of radio hams and communication providers, but the property issue, too. It is difficult to imagine a decision that would give all the roofs to the radio fans. Each roof, in the building sense, has its proprietor – this is either an association of the flat owners, or come local public utilities services, or a building and load association, and of course, in each case you should talk to the proprietor and settle the conditions to place your antennas on the roofs.
Alexandra: Two questions from one user at once. Why do taxi drivers work at the 10-metre radio fans range and no actions are taken upon them for orders violation? And will the standard CDMA 800 be closed?
Schegolev: As to the taxi drivers who work in other people’s range – this is a disgrace. You should address the local office of Rossvyaz'komnadzor. Definitely, they are trying to determine the violations, but it is not always easy when mobile objects are concerned and non-constant sources of interferences. So such hints are useful. As to the range described by our users as CDMA 800, by the decision of the State Commission on Radio Frequencies made several years ago, this range will be removed from usage by the end of 2010. So far we made no other decisions.
Vyacheslav: In Europe LTE communication standard is being actively developed. Is the launch of networks based on LTE technology planned here?
Schegolev: Yes, the standard we would see for ourselves in the range 790-862 MHz, but this is questionable so far as in this range special-purpose communication prevails, and we are trying how to solve this problem so that the ones who use these frequencies could switch to other ranges, which requires much money. And once we find the model to do all this, accordingly, the range will be freed and regarded for the usage of LTE standard. This is a young standard. It is considered very promising as it should become a new generation of mobile communication. At the same time the previous generation should not be cancelled and those who work in the common GSM with common telephones should have the opportunity to work with the equipment of this new standard, too. So far, there are no telephones one could use in this standard. So this is a promising thing, much is expected from it, and this is related to design solutions. So far there are no test samples.
Alexandra: One more question: the range of radio frequencies 2400-2483,5 MHz is so far accessible only for intra-office data networks. When will the State Radio Frequencies Commission open the range for external networks of wideband access or Wi-Fi without the need to get permission for frequencies usage?
Schegolev: As to this range, a number of appliances with certain parameters can be used now already, there are no limitations related to the work in the open air in total. However, there are special-purpose appliances working in this range. So we cannot refuse the permission practice completely. So we will have to see in each case whether this appliance is in the way for some of the users. So the answer consists of two parts: in general it is possible to work not only inside the buildings, but in each case, as with most of communication appliances, you should check whether this impedes someone else.
Vyacheslav: How are licenses on WiMax allocated and how transparent the allocation is? How can small- and medium-sized businesses enter the market?
Schegolev: As concerns WiMax, these are technologies that presently enjoy a sufficient level of demand and we have specifically checked out which ranges and which frequency contents in a given specific range are allowable to unwind networks in specific cities. We have found out there are not that many of them. According to the law, once the resource is limited, we have to allocate it by means of an auction or tender. We are currently arranging such a tender on the range of 2,300-2,483.5, following procedures set by the law. Accordingly, after the tender is held nationwide, it will become clear whether a spare resource for such small-scale local projects is available. That is to say, we are consistently pursuing this path from the perspective of ensuring transparency, while on the other hand Alexandra: Many users are very worried, when will the appointment of frequencies for Tetra networks be simplified?
Schegolev: This is also what I was talking about, we are trying to look for generalised solutions. And we also see how to apply this approach to Tetra communication standard.
Vyacheslav: Should the lodgers of a house receive money for the usage of the roof for the transmitters of mobile communication? Megafon uses the roof of our house without our agreement.
Schegolev: It should be checked. Generally, in most cases and by the rules, these are the relations that regulate the roofs usage. Of course, large companies will not risk such small violations. I should be checked, most likely, such a contract was signed with the house owner.
Alexandra: Question by Andrey Vityaev and Jury Sidovor, when will digital television appear in Russia?
Schegolev: It is available already. There is satellite television, and cable, too, for instance, in large cities – Moscow, Saint Petersburg, most of the houses have access to digital television. We hope it will start working country-wide by 2014 already, and now we are actively working on building broadcast networks, for our users to be able to get access to this service without replacing their TV-sets, only by buying adaptors.
Alexandra: Will they have to pay for the adapters?
Schegolev: Sure, you paid for a mobile phone when you bought it. This is just the same. This is the new kind of service and if you want to use it, you will have to buy an adaptor. If not, no one makes you, you can watch old television in the analogue non-digital format.
Vyacheslav: Igor Pukhnachev is interested, in case 90% of the population is not covered with digital broadcast in time, can it happen like in the USA (the switching timing is prolonged) or the harsh variant will be applied (by a voluntary decision analogue broadcast is cancelled which will violate the Russian Federation Constitution and the right for information)
Schegolev: Our colleague gave us the answer himself. Sure, no one will violate the Constitution. And our choice was conscious when we were forming the program of switching to digital television. Our citizens should have access to this service, and they should decide for themselves whether they will use this right. And of course, we are not going to switch off the analogue broadcasting voluntarily.
Alexandra: Questions from Vitaliy Gasiev, when will digital television be available in the Northern Osetia?
Schegolev: By the current plans, the Northern Osetia belongs to the regions where digital television is scheduled for about 2011.
Vyacheslav: Natasha O. is interested, has practical switching to digital broadcast, projecting, execution, started in any of the regions,?
Schegolev: We have started the active project work in the Far East as it is from there that we are going to build the network. In Kurskaya region, in Moscow. In the nearest future the digital signal can be received in various formats, and there were pilot zones in many regions, too, people there could try what digital television is. So we are covering the country rather actively. Broadcast variant using common or individual antennas is not the only one, there is cable, and IP television using the Internet, and satellite which is quite convenient and is available in the millions of our households.
Alexandra: Question by John Gordon, what to do with old TV-sets?
Schegolev: Whatever you like, if you dislike it or it is out of order, you can throw it away. And if it is good, you can get a digital signal with the adaptor. Again, you might know, those who provide IP communication services already include the cost of the adaptor in the package price. So it is possible to receive the digital signal now already, and nothing much will change here. However, if there is the intention to replace a TV-set, I think, it is better to look for new TV-sets with built-in tuners for the digital signal that will allow you receiving it without the adaptor.
Vyacheslav: Sergey Meshkov asks, what is the future of regional TV companies due to the switching to digital broadcast in 2015?
Schegolev: Firstly, it should be specified what is meant by regional companies, as there are large companies whose channels cover the whole region and they can claim to join one of these programs packages. We have determined the content of the first package of 8 channels. It is supposed that large regional companies will be included in the second package. This should be the opinion of both the regional authorities, and the population of the regions to determine what channel to consider regional to include it in the second package. And it seems to me that for the regional companies this is one more change because the number of distribution channels will be increased and, accordingly, they will have the area to work. It is necessary to think how to arrange collaboration with other companies, how to create the content interesting to the watchers. And I think, in the digital television epoch many companies will have very good new opportunities.
Alexandra: The question about Skype takes the third position after the questions about the Internet and mobile communication. We also have a series of questions, evidently, from communication providers, about the regulations of voice-over-IP. We have deliberately cluster up questions about video-communication, Skype and Internet-pagers, and Voice-Over-Ip. So, will Skype be stripped of its Russian “domicile registration” or not?
Schegolev: The initiative that has been announced and interpreted as a petrel of the shutdown of Skype is one of the series of an inaccurate communication of information. Its is understood that Skype, as well as VoiP, is a technology whose rise became possible thanks to a very dynamic development of communication, a dynamic development of the Internet both worldwide and in this country on the whole. The question of course is how the employment of these technologies in our communication networks and how the economic models unfolding in this regard should be regulated. This is the context, it seems to me, in which the initiative was voiced, which has stirred so much fuss. As the Minister, I can maintain there are no plans to outlaw or shut down Skype in Russia.
Vyacheslav: The electronic government is to appear in the country shortly. Let’s talk about this. Romantic inna_shatova@mail.ru wonders when the Electronic Government project will be complete in Russia. Will it be possible to build an electronic society in Russia?
Schegolev: The romantic questions match the nickname. It is hard to set a concrete date to declare the electronic government has been established in this country. I am no romantic – I am a practitioner. Bu to reckon we ain’t doing anything and will keep on waiting when everything emerge by itself – I can’t do this, either, for a serious work on this is underway. The government is en route to have our consumer capable of communicating with government agencies with the use of the most modern means of communications. And not only for the sake of obtaining any information, but very particular one, that is, notes, references and documents, without calling on an agency’s premises. This is what we call the public services delivery in the electronic form. It goes without saying, the speed of transition to such services depends on the state of the agencies’ informational systems and on the extent to which our citizens will have access to the Internet in particular, as well as to other means of communications. But, overall, I can tell that between the coming fall and the end of next year we will have progressed with regard to a few dozens of such services – while the informational systems are advancing, they will become available already in the electronic form.
Alexandra: Ewgeny Rabkin ewgenyrabkin@mail.ru asks, why has not the electronic digital signature been broadly introduced? When should this be expected?
Schegolev: The digital signature is needed to have those who use the Internet or means of electronic communication be confident that the counterpart who has sent a note or a document is indeed the very person whom he impersonates. For in our everyday life you have either seen a given individual, or you are aware that he is who he is, or he has somehow produced documents that proved his identity. In the electronic world, it is far harder to do this. The respective Act was passed in 2002. It works in a way different from what his authors had hoped for, as they have introduced a super-tough protection system. Say, in our regular life, there is a regular signature which suffices for certain kinds of contracts or requests – a letter arrives, a man has put his signature, and it is clear that he is he. In certain areas, one needs a stamp or a seal plus a notary certification to attest the identity of a holder of a given document. Bu we have initially introduced maximum strict requirements in the area of electronic signature.
Imagine, you will have to call on a notary’s office every time while filling out any references at your university or submitting an application. It would be very inconvenient in the everyday life. The same has happened with the electronic digital signature. And today, when we are in transition to the electronic services delivery, we have seen that many of them in their present form can do without the electronic signature. Anyway, an individual will have to identify himself in an electronic system, which is why we are currently developing a model comprising a few kinds of electronic signatures. We hope that everyone who are keen to interact directly with our legislators will have been able to familiarize themselves with our plans by the end of the year.
Vyacheslav: The user Forsh forshlag@mail.ru asks, what’s the sense of launching the public services delivery portal www.ogic.ru, if it fails to perform the functional it was designed for?
Schegolev: I believe the portal’s name is of no fundamental importance. The primary concern is to have it up and running, which is why we do not see now our mission in checking specifically a given portal. Rather, our task is to make sure that after logging on, citizens will see to whom to apply for necessary data and what kind of documents the agency will request from them. And later, to submit without trouble a request for this or that document through this portal. This is what we are currently working on, and we are going to launch the portal in December.
Alexandra: The user Ydav zambezi@mail.ru asks, do you know what money back your people receive for the state projects and state programs supervised by your Ministry. How is the state represented by you planning to fight this?
Schegolev: Once I know certain surnames, amounts, and circumstances of receiving the money back and bribes from you, we will determine the punishment with the law people. So you can inform us using the Internet.
Vyacheslav: The user “OV-OV” 0v-ov@mail.ru asks: what is your attitude to the usage of the so-called “olbanian” language in the Internet?
Schegolev: Slang, jargon is such a part of our life that has always been and will always be. The fashion is changing, young people have always had many funny words, and the environment had its role here, too, at first it was accepted to write some abbreviations, and then, on the contrary, the phrases became longer. This is quite a common issue. I think that it has its life period, same as other slangs and jargons do. I think, on the contrary, with the presence of reference system, spelling systems, one could use the Internet well to learn good Russian. I assure you, knowing syntax is of much more hep in real life than known some special words. Though they do not irritate me.
Alexandra: АВВА user asks, what professions in the sphere of communication and IT-technologies are the most demanded now?
Schegolev: Of course, engineers, programmers, and managers are in demand – those who understand the industry peculiarity and at the same time can make correct management decisions. In general the industry lacks human resources. So if our users are deciding now on what to do in life, I could recommend the higher education institutions where these specialisations are taught. By our data, their graduates have better overall employment rates.
Vyacheslav: Mary Presnyakova writes that she is a MTUSI student with the specialisation in applied mathematics and asks where such specialists are needed.
Schegolev: Applied mathematician is first of all a programmer of a very good high level, capable to solve complicated tasks. This is a well-paid and demanded profession in our country. So my congratulations on your choice, I think, she will not stay unemployed.
Alexandra: Andrey Orlov asks a very funny question: he says that mass death of bees has been registered in the USA and he asks whether this is related to the expansion of wireless communication of the new generation.
Schegolev: As Winnie-the-Pooh said, these are some wrong bees that make the wrong honey. There was such a discovery in Europe when the scientists of one of the universities linked the death of bees to the appearance of mobile communication equipment. After this additional research was done and this connection was not confirmed. Though you know that in Europe and in the States people are very actively fighting for environmental protection. I think if it were confirmed, we would already have had a world-wide campaign against mobile communication. So far this is not the case, so I think, other reasons should be looked for.
Vyacheslav: Tatiana Pchelintseva asks: Are you an active Internet user yourself? Which sites do you browse?
Schegolev: I am, indeed, but force myself to keep an informational diet, i.e. to strictly set a time slot to work with my e-mail, the time to browse informational sites, and the time to surf public sites in search for resources or to correspond with my friends.
Alexandra: Elena Golubeva wanted to ask you how to counter Baratrum?
Schegolev: Why counter him? He can be perfectly splashed with spiders.
Vyacheslav: We have many questions left, however, the time is over. Thank you for participation.
Schegolev: I wish you a good school year and to those who participated and sent questions – I would like to say that we would definitely try to analyse everything mentioned and in case there are decisions to be made at the Ministry level we will try doing this. In case these are some singular local problems, I think our colleagues, communication providers, will be able to solve these problems.
Thank you.
What do I mean? According to an international classification, there are five stages of the services delivery. At the first stage, one can log on to an agency’s site and get information of its operations. At the second stage, one can check out which services the agency delivers and can download forms to fill out and a comprehensive guidance how to do that. At the third stage, it is possible to send these forms to the agency. At the fourth one, it will become possible to log on the informational system, check at what stage of consideration one’s inquiry is, i.e. it is in receipt, has been taken into consideration, or it is at the stage of completion of a document, and, consequently, either documents are forwarded to one in the electronic form, or a notification is sent out that one can pay a visit at such and such address to pick up this or that document. At the fifth stage, one is to receive the document right to his computer, or an instruction as to in which base the decision on your case has been posted.
Ideally, we should rid our citizens of the need to collect references from various agencies to obtain a document from a third one. The citizen will have to place a request, and the public agencies should collect all the necessary information using their intranets and understand whether the citizen has the right to get this kind of service, which is recorded in a certain database. This shall of course simplify our citizenry’s lives and bolster the public administration’s operational efficiency.
