The government has passed a resolution that obliges providers to clearly state the speed of the Internet in the contract. If the contract promised 100 Mbps, and you only get 40, this is a violation that can be addressed to the NKEK (telecom regulator) or to the court.
The government has passed a resolution that obliges providers to clearly state the speed of the Internet in the contract. If the contract promised 100 Mbps, and you only get 40, this is a violation that can be addressed to the NKEK (telecom regulator) or to the court.
But operators are in no hurry to rejoice in the new rules. CEO of internet provider UTELS Oleksandr Polyudov says that it is a good idea on paper, but its implementation in reality raises many questions.
«It is impossible to objectively determine the quality of the Internet without clearly prescribed testing conditions: what equipment, what service, what parameters should be. If this is not the case, most subscribers will be able to complain without even realizing that the problem may be on their side (on their router, computer, etc.),» explains Polyudov.
In this case, the provider can protect itself by specifying the minimum speed in the contract and providing services.
According to the manager, the market is already self-regulated by competition. If a subscriber is dissatisfied, he simply switches to another provider. Therefore, the operators themselves are interested in ensuring that the speed meets expectations.
The CEO of Lanet, Marian Ivasyuk, also criticizes the resolution: «This is simply a lack of understanding of how the Internet works. The contract may specify the bandwidth of the connection port, or its limitations, or the level of packet loss — these are objective parameters. But the speed is not guaranteed.»
Polyudov reminds us: there are two models of the Internet — for home and for business.
Home Internet is always «up to» a certain speed. For example, up to 100 Mbps. But this is not a guarantee. And that’s okay.
Business Internet is completely different. Here, the contract stipulates a guaranteed speed, and companies pay 10 times more for it. For example, 300 UAH for a home versus 3,000 UAH for a business.
«Guaranteed speed is a different price, a different level of service. And for business, such conditions work fine. But applying them to the mass segment is irrational,» says the CEO of UTELS.
