Investment in Russian telecom infrastructure back at pre-Covid levels last year, around 300 bln rubles - Shadayev

MOSCOW. March 19 (Interfax) - Investments by telecom operators in Russia's telecom infrastructure returned to pre-Covid levels in 2024, Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev said on Wednesday at an extended meeting of the State Duma Committee on Information Policies.

Investments by mobile operators increased 21% to 209 billion rubles in 2024, with investments by fixed-line operators up 15% to 89 billion rubles, the minister said in a presentation.

"In terms of telecoms, the main trend that I'd like to highlight for 2024 is that there has been substantially more investment in infrastructure development by network operators, in spite of all the economic difficulties, the rate and everything else. That means that, if we look at the absolute figures -excluding deflators, obviously - we're effectively more or less back at pre-Covid investment volume," Shadayev said.

This was driven by increased traffic and a greater need to provide quality service to users, he said.