Telecom providers select three prototypes of Russian base stations, ready to sign contracts

KALUGA. Aug 22 (Interfax) - Russia's largest telecom providers have selected three prototypes of domestic base stations through the mechanism of industrial competency centers (ICC) and are prepared to sign forward contracts with their manufacturers, Rostelecom president Mikhail Oseyevsky said at the Digital Evolution forum.

"The government, as part of the new policy of industry digitization, has drawn attention to the lack of domestic base stations. As part of the new approach of industrial competency centers, we did such work with our industry colleagues. We selected three solutions from different companies, all private. Industry companies are prepared to sign forward contracts with them for the delivery of this equipment," Oseyevsky said.

Telecom companies expect that the developers of this equipment will receive various measures of state support, he added.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin proposed creating ICCs to replace foreign solutions in key sectors of the economy in June. There will be a total of 35 such centers, which will collect orders for development of domestic solutions according to the needs of various sectors, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko said in July. The government plans to allocate 37.1 billion rubles from the budget to 2024 to cofinance the development of domestic alternatives to foreign digital solutions, he said.

Deputy Digital Development Minister Maxim Parshin said on Friday that the call for requests for projects within the context of ICCs is wrapping up, and that potential customers had submitted 353 requirements for various domestic solutions. He said 309 customers are participating in the selection, and they "see Russian developers on the market who have 695 Russian solutions, 339 unique Russian developers on the market," Parshin said.

He said that by September 7 his ministry and the Finance Ministry will conduct an analysis, compile a rating of projects and present them for consideration to the presidium of the government commission chaired by Chernyshenko, which will make the relevant decisions.

Parshin also said that there might be more requests to support projects than the allocated budget funding can cover.

"Therefore, we will compile the list of projects that we are capable of supporting now on the horizon of three years. And then, if the projects are high quality, thoroughly worked out, we will petition the government to increase the amount of financing," Parshin said.