Sergei Zhdanov, the Head of Rostelecom, compared the foreign projects providing global access to the Internet with the threat to the sovereignty of the Russian Federation.
The representative of Rostelecom stated this opinion during the round table on the problems of the telecommunications industry which took place at the Analytical Center of the Russian Government.
First of all, this is about Oneweb project which involves the creation and launch seven hundred satellites into orbit in 2019 for organization the network that will provide high speed internet access throughout the world.
Other technology giants are also going to implement similar projects. For example, these are SpaceX, Facebook, Samsung and Google.
“If foreign players will win here (in the Russian market – ed.), there will be problems with sovereignty. Those who controls the information, controls the world” – said Sergei Zhdanov.
Thus, there is a risk that these projects will be prohibited on the territory of Russia because nobody can guarantee that foreign companies will provide the Russian force authorities with all the data about traffic of Russian subscribers according to the “Yarova’s package”. Also the question whether these companies will agree to perform blocking a sites with content forbidden in Russia remains open.
How they are going to fight against such projects in Russia? If the Internet will be distributed with the help of drones and stratospheric balloons, they will be simply shoot down by militaries.
This will be much more difficult to counteract the satellite system, as “outer space”, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, is free for exploration and use by all countries of the world. And here Russia still has not too much bargaining chips.
