Russian mobile data law should not be postponed - minister

VEON

05/07/2017 16:21

MOSCOW, July 5 (Reuters) - Russia should not delay 
anti-terrorist regulation on mobile data storage from mid-2018 
but may have to enforce it gradually, Communications Minister 
Nikolai Nikiforov said on Wednesday. 
    The law envisages that as of July 1, 2018, mobile phone 
operators must store all user-generated data including voice 
calls and messages for six months, as part of wider regulations 
passed last year in response to growing terrorism threats. 
    Lawmakers have suggested delaying the enforcement of the 
law, which is expected to inflate operators' costs, by five 
years to 2023, the Vedomosti business daily reported on Tuesday, 
citing sources and pushing telecoms stocks higher.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1JV0EJ  
    "To simply postpone, delay the coming into force of these 
norms of the anti-terrorist package to 2023 we think is 
counter-productive," Nikiforov told reporters. 
    He said however that it would be impossible to enforce the 
law in a single step on one day and therefore a plan should be 
drawn up that could result in its implementation in stages over 
a two- to five-year period. 
    "We are looking for a compromise... I think next week we'll 
see some kind of an agreed position," Nikiforov said.     
    Russian telecoms operators MTS  MTSS.MM , Megafon  MFON.MM , 
Veon's  VEON.O  subsidiary Vimpelcom and Rostelecom's  RTKM.MM  
venture Tele2 have estimated that they would have to spend a 
total of 2.2 trillion roubles ($37 billion) to comply with the 
law. 
 
 (Reporting by Denis Pinchuk; editing by Maria Kiselyova and 
Susan Thomas) 
 ((maria.kiselyova@thomsonreuters.com; +7 495 775 1242; Reuters 
Messaging:  maria.kiselyova.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: RUSSIA TELECOMS/LAWMAKING