King of the mountain. Frequently asked questions Game king of the hill tele2 disable

The topic of interconnect rates, that is, the tariff that cellular operators pay each other for connecting their subscriber to a subscriber of another network, is not new at all. When the Swedish discounter Tele2 entered Kazakhstan at the beginning of 2010, company representatives repeatedly said that interconnect rates in Kazakhstan would be reduced to an extremely low value. Moreover, they spoke about this so confidently that it seemed as if this point was stipulated during the sale of the MTS operator (the Neo brand, the company was owned by Kazakhtelecom, part of the Samruk-Kazyna state holding). However, later, from the two main players - GSM-Kazakhstan (Kcell brand) and KaR-Tel (Beeline brand) - the newcomer only managed to achieve agreement to a slight and gradual reduction in interconnect rates. Having existed for some time in this aggressive environment, Tele2 seems to be ready to take the warpath again.

Expert Kazakhstan spoke with the President of Tele2 Kazakhstan about why the interconnect rate is so important for Tele2. Andrey Smelkov, who believes that this is a gross restriction of competition.

- So, explain to our readers again why you think that in this case we are talking about limiting competition?

You see, for two companies that together held 93% of the market by revenue in 2011, it does not matter what interconnection rate is set. They exchange a large amount of traffic among themselves, they pay each other. These incomes increase their revenue figures. But their costs for paying for other people’s traffic are just as high. That is, there is either no net profit there, or it is small. But the momentum is rising. If the interconnect rate decreases by three to four times, then the revenue from this area will also decrease. Which probably won't sit well with shareholders. But there can be no real negative impact from lowering the rate, no matter what they say. Their traffic delta between each other is zero or negligible. They have a non-zero delta with us, with Altel, since a smaller subscriber base, of course, generates more traffic to a larger base than in the opposite direction. With a rate of 15.02 tenge, we still owe huge amounts to Beeline and Kcell every month. Although we are a small operator. So far, everything is not good with our profitability. Our operating expenses are higher than our operating income. And plus we also pay a lot of money to these two players. It's unclear why.

- If I'm not mistaken, they say that we are talking about payment for the use of their infrastructure. Kazakhtelecom also takes money for the use of its channels when it provides transit of other people's traffic.

The case with GSM networks is different - this is a different kind of telecom. What is interconnect essentially? There are two switches. A fiber optic channel will be stretched between them. There are actually a lot of ports on switches. Fiber optics can carry huge volumes of traffic. By lowering the rate, we simply allow our subscribers to communicate with each other.

- Operators waste electricity, there is some wear and tear on equipment, salaries of specialists again... Still, purely from a business point of view, there are costs. Another thing is what level they really are at.

I don’t argue, you can find arguments in defense of existing rates. But the biggest nonsense is that, for example, we charge a subscriber 8 tenge for a call, and our costs for it are 15 tenge. And the same goes for our competitors, who offer approximately the same tariffs. But they all compensate for this by mutual payment. But we don’t. How can a small player survive in this situation? If we did not have good financial support from the shareholder, we would have ceased to exist long ago. That is, it turns out that a player who systematically reduces communication prices in a country, doing good for its citizens and thereby forcing other players to reduce tariffs, finds themselves in a losing position. In fact, our entry into the market changed it radically. We offered low rates - and thanks to us, the cost of a minute of conversation fell for everyone. But if we weren’t there, everything would remain in its place. And expensive interconnect is a kind of artificial barrier to the development of competition.

- When you entered the market, this question should have worried you then. As far as I remember, we also published several articles on this matter. That is, you should have understood the scale of the problem even then.

You know, our business plan is drawn up according to the worst-case scenario, according to which this rate will not be reduced at all. Even in this situation, we have enough funding to reach the break-even point. Of course, such a path will be longer and more difficult. Nevertheless, we believe, we are 100% sure of this, that the state should regulate this rate, help new players enter the market and thereby increase competition. From the shareholder's point of view, of course, taking a longer time to reach the break-even point means tens of millions of dollars of investment. Which makes investing in Kazakhstan generally less attractive. I don't understand the government though. Keeping the rate at the current level means marking time. It holds back the development of the industry. Kazakhstan has the most expensive communications in the CIS. The average cost of a call per minute in 2011 was 10.3 tenge. In Russia, this figure is 35% lower - 6.7 tenge. In Kyrgyzstan it is 74% lower - 2.7 tenge. In Ukraine and Uzbekistan it is 85% lower - 1.6 tenge. Feel, as they say, the difference. All this is a consequence of weak competition.

- Other operators explain the figures you provided by the fact that we have a unique situation: a small population dispersed over a vast territory. Because in the Republic of Kazakhstan there is traditionally no division into zones, as in other countries. Calls to Almaty and Atyrau are charged the same. Therefore the costs are higher.

This is all from the evil one. Let's look at the numbers. KaR-Tel's EBITDA for the first quarter of 2012 inclusive amounted to 47.8%. And the entire Beeline group at the same time - 40.2%. EBITDA of GSM-Kazakhstan for this period was generally 59.2%. This is data from their own reports. But, for example, the figure for the world's largest player Vodafone is 31.5%. Russian operators Megafon and MTS have EBITDA of 41.6% and 41.8%, respectively. That is, ours clearly still have room to shrink. GSM-Kazakhstan and KaR-Tel actually have excess income. If they reduce communication prices, yes, the margins of their business will fall, but you can live with 40% EBITDA, and everyone will be happy. Naturally, no one wants to lose extra profit, and the two players making up the oligopoly are doing everything possible to not reduce interconnection.

- They remember the story of European operators, who were driven to the point of price competition to the point where they had no funds left for reinvestment and development. And, they say, the same thing can happen to us.

You know, at one of the press conferences I showed a presentation where the EBITDA of the operators was also demonstrated, and how much CAPEX (English: CAPital EXpenditure - capital expenditures - “EC”) they invested in the networks. And it shows that all these investments in the 3G networks that are now being deployed have long since paid off, and even the investments in the 4G networks that are still in the plans, too. Now these players are simply making pure profit. Everything pays off, they have enough money for everything. Some companies say that their business in Uzbekistan is unprofitable. But for some reason they also invest hundreds of millions of dollars in this market, and no one leaves. Although prices there are 6.5 times lower than ours. No need to pretend. The industry will remain attractive even with radical price cuts.

- “Tele2” relatively recently began expanding into Russia. What is the situation with the interconnect rate?

In Russia, the rate has existed for a long time, and it is equal to 4.8 tenge, if calculated in Kazakhstani currency. She turned out like this without any coercion. The regulator does not affect this rate since it is normal. She also arranged for Tele2 when we entered the Russian Federation. We propose, by analogy, to make a bet in Kazakhstan of about 5 tenge. We work with Altel at this rate. And we don’t have any problems with each other. We have made offers to both Kcell and Beeline several times. They sent letters. But the answer was a refusal.

- Operators say that the rate reduction will lead to a decrease in their income and, as a result, the treasury will not collect taxes.

There is a great example - Türkiye. There, too, the regulator decided to force a radical reduction in the rate when a new player entered. Existing players screamed that income would fall, the industry would become unprofitable, and less taxes would go to the treasury. In reality, the interconnect rate has decreased, and the volume of services has increased due to falling prices. Each of the players eventually increased their volumes both in terms of revenue and profit. Everything was covered in chocolate. Including consumers who received cheaper prices. Yes, this spurred competition, forced us to look for new ways to earn money, new services were introduced, mobile Internet was promoted, and so on. Be that as it may, no catastrophe happened, but rather the opposite. And the current rate there now is 2.8 tenge. In fact, Kazakhstan already has statistics. On January 1, 2011, the rate was reduced by 20%. And in 2011, the average number of call minutes per month increased by 14%, the cost per minute decreased by 16%. Kcell's revenue increased by 18%, Beeline - by 9%. In fact, reducing the rate will lead to an increase in tax revenues for the state and to an increase in GDP. Although our opponents are still looking for an argument. They engaged the GSM Association, which once made a presentation where there were slides showing that there are countries where interconnect rates are even higher than in Kazakhstan...

- So there are still such countries? Do you remember which ones, by any chance?

I don't remember now. I think Australia was mentioned. But in fact, it seems to me that Kazakhstan needs to follow the CIS countries in this matter. In Russia, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan, rates are several times lower.

You can count. But again, I repeat: according to the experience of Turkey, all this decline is compensated for by increasing the volume of services. So why? Even if someone’s revenue decreases by 10-15%, this is not a disaster. Moreover, this does not affect profitability.

- Now, if we were the heads of your two competing companies, any sensible businessman would hold the interconnect rate for as long as possible in order to prevent you from increasing your share, while he himself gradually reduced the tariffs to approximately your level in order to kill your price advantage.

Absolutely right. I met with one of the executives of Beeline. And he honestly told me: “Andrey, I will do everything possible to hinder your development.” That is, not to expand the interconnect joint so that it is more difficult for our subscribers to reach their subscribers - and so that our clients will suffer because of this on the quality of our communications. Don't change positions with us. And so on. This is normal competition. But we must understand that our subscriber base is growing rapidly. We are no longer a small “Neo”. We now have more than one million subscribers. By creating obstacles in this way, they also harm themselves. The fact that we constantly talk about the high cost of communications in Kazakhstan, about oligopoly, harms their reputation. Their subscribers are beginning to perceive them as expensive operators. In fact, they themselves agree that the rate is inadequate. Dmitry Kromsky, former head of KaR-Tel (operating under the Beeline brand) and current vice president of VimpelCom for the CIS, a person whom I respect very much, in his interview with the website comnews.ru on May 25, 2010. said: “It’s quite difficult to play dumping in Kazakhstan - the price of interconnection there is the highest among all the CIS countries.” But the representative of TeliaSonera, the shareholder of GSM-Kazakhstan\Kcell, vice president for work with government agencies of this company Claes-Goran Sundelius...

- Does he agree too?

He and I participated together in a conference at the Stockholm School of Economics, and we both spoke there. I had a topic on the development of competition in Kazakhstan. Taking this opportunity, I publicly asked him the question: “What do you think about interconnect rates in general?” To this he, perhaps not quite prepared, replied that these rates as such should be reduced, and ideally be equal to zero. That is, everyone, in principle, admits that the stakes are too high. But when we start dialogue with operators, the position is different. When it was announced that we had reached an agreement that interconnect rates would be reduced by 10-15%, this was presented as a solution that suited everyone. In fact, it was about the limits to which our competitors agreed to move. However, this is completely insufficient. There is a plan according to which there will be a reduction of 10-15% over several years, and at this rate by 2020 we will reach 10 tenge per minute.

- What do you expect from the state?

If the Ministry of Communications issues an order on the maximum rate, all operators, I think, will comply. Just like they did when, for example, a decree was issued on tariff increments. We are waiting for an adequate response from the state. There are a lot of precedents of this kind in the world. In Spain, the industry regulator ordered operators to reduce the rate by 73%, in France - by 75%, in Italy - by 40%. If the same order appears in Kazakhstan, everyone will continue to work normally, in a civilized manner. And they will probably compete more, instead of blaming each other. Let me appropriately quote Minister Askar Zhumagaliev, who on June 13, at a government meeting, said the following: “Still, it is government agencies that need to work with these interconnect tariffs from the point of view of analyzing costs and reducing them.”

- By government agencies, he could also mean the Agency for Protection of Competition.

The filling station made an attempt to include GSM-Kazakhstan and KaR-Tel in the register of dominant companies. These operators filed a lawsuit against this decision. Now the case is in court, and only God knows how long it will remain there. Although the decision is quite reasonable - there are two dominant ones on the market, and it is clear that the main volume of traffic goes through them. Mr. Zhumagaliev said that the ministry hired a company to examine interconnect rates, and the results of this study will appear in September. But what will happen next is not clear. From my point of view, all this does not require so much work. In fact, there are examples in the world when the state, when a new player enters and when a traffic imbalance is visible, introduces asymmetric interconnect rates. Just to stimulate competition. For example, when Tele2 entered Norway, they offered it a preferential rate. After a strictly agreed time - two to three years - the rates are equalized. Regardless of whether the new operator has grown or not grown.

- So, in your opinion, something similar should be introduced for you and Altel?

Well, after all, Altel has been working on the market much longer than us, although, of course, it is in a similar situation. To be honest, I’m afraid to hope for an asymmetric bet, since this is a fantasy, a fairy tale. We could at least get a reduction in interconnect rates. This is fair and should be done. The president, the prime minister, and the minister of communications are talking about this. But the ministry, instead of regulating the barrier to competition, regulates our prices for the end consumer. Which is generally nonsense: dictating to commercial companies the prices they should set for their product. If you remove barriers to competition, the price itself will go down. If the filling station finds out that someone is dominant in the market and there is a conspiracy between them, and there is no other way to be in this market, then please introduce tariffs. But setting standards based on retail prices is wrong.

In order to receive a daily prize you need to score the most points during the game day. Each new gaming day starts at 10:00 Moscow time.

You can also get an additional prize if you fight and defeat the Tsar. And if you are already a Tsar, then you will receive additional winnings for maintaining this title.

Based on the results of each calendar month of the competition, a prize will also be awarded to all participants who score the most points for each of the topics of the competition.

In order to score points, you need to participate in duels.

For each win you will receive 2 points and an additional 1 point if you defeat an opponent with a higher rating. For every 3 wins in a row you will receive 2 extra points. But if you defeat the same opponent 3 times during the game day, then points based on the results of duels with this opponent will no longer be awarded to you.

For each draw you will receive 1 point and an additional 1 point if you answer before your opponent.

If neither you nor your opponent gives a single correct answer, then no points are awarded based on the results of such a duel.

You can also earn extra points while earning titles.

By collecting points in the service, you will receive titles. Titles will allow you not only to stand out in the rankings, but also to receive additional points and open up new game opportunities.

If you score 10 points during the competition period, you will receive the title BARON. This title will give you an additional 5 points one time and give you the opportunity to set a nickname. Next, all other users will see you in the competition under the nickname you enter.

If you score 50 points during the competition period, you will receive the title of COUNT. This title will earn you an additional 10 points one-time and will give you access to questions from the Technique topic.

If you score 200 points during the competition period, you will receive the title DUKE. This title will earn you an additional 20 points one time and give you the opportunity to choose your favorite topic. Participants who have a lower rating will duel with you questions on your favorite topic.

If you score 500 points during the competition period, you will receive the title of MARQUIZ. This title will earn you an additional 30 points one time and give you access to questions from the Sports topic.

If you score 1000 points during the competition period, you will receive the title PRINCE. This title will give you an additional 50 points one time and will give you the opportunity to choose 2 least favorite topics on which you will not be asked questions in duels.

If you score 10,000 points during the Competition period, you will receive the title TSAREVICH. This title will earn you an additional 75 points one time.

If you score 50,000 points during the Competition period, you will receive the title CHANCELLOR. This title will earn you an additional 100 points one time.

Participation in the service from two or more subscriber numbers belonging to one Participant is prohibited. You will independently be responsible for violating this rule and the current legislation of the Russian Federation, due to the need to pay tax on personal income received in the form of prizes for winning competitions and incentives from several sources.

• Disable the service "Beep" on Tele2 you can use the combination ✶ 115 ✶ 0 #.
• To disable the service "Who called", dial command ✶ 155 ✶ 330 #.
• To cancel the service "Zero everywhere", send USSD request ✶ 143 ✶ 20 #.
• To disable the service "Acquaintance" on Tele2, you need to send a USSD command from your phone ✶ 684 ✶ 0 #.
• Deactivate option “It’s like home in Crimea” You can use the command ✶ 143 ✶ 60 #.
• To delete a service "Black list", dial the USSD combination ✶ 220 ✶ 0 # on your phone.
• To disable the service "Identifier of intentionally hidden numbers", use the key combination ✶ 210 ✶ 0 # .
• To decline the option "AntiAON"(caller ID), dial the command ✶ 117 ✶ 0 # on your phone.
• Disable the service "Internet from phone" on Tele2 you can use the USSD command ✶ 155 ✶ 150 #.
• To deactivate the option "Day on the Internet" The intended command is ✶ 155 ✶ 160 #.
• To disable Tele2 TV, send a USSD request from your phone ✶ 225 ✶ 0 #.

We delete connected Tele2 services through “Personal Account”

“Personal Account” is an excellent tool with which you can independently remove connected paid Tele2 services. Moreover, this applies not only to operator services, but also to mobile subscriptions.

To view the list of connected services, log in to the website my.tele2.ru and go to the section "Tariff and services", select item "Service Management".

On the page that opens you will see a list of connected Tele2 services. To opt out, click the button "Set up services"

I continue the series of articles on the topic: “How to disable services on Tele2.” Today we will talk about Tele 2, which, in my opinion, is the cheapest connection in Russia.

I don’t know why this happened, but the cost of calls is difficult to compare with the leading operators in our country. And, like other companies, Tele 2 also offers its customers various services. Services can be paid or free.

I offer two surefire ways to turn it off, and you can use whichever one you like :)

1. The first way is to disable services on the official Tele 2 website. I believe that a personal account is useful because there you can see everything that concerns the subscriber. In addition to the available services, it is possible to familiarize yourself with other tariffs or find out how much you spend on mobile communications.

To do this, follow this link and get into your personal Tele 2 account. At the bottom we find the inscription “connected services”. Absolutely all active and inactive services are shown here. Please note that if you take my example, I only have one of the connected services.

2. This method is suitable for the laziest users. You need to call *153# and receive a notification about the disconnection of services. This method will help you disable services with one command.

Don't be upset if this happens. Read more about solving the problem in this article.

Useful articles for users of other operators:

• how to disable the Megafon service?
• how to disable the Beeline service?
• MTS?

Answer questions in the exciting “King of the Hill” quiz in various areas of knowledge and get Titles!

• 5 thousand questions on geography, history, mathematics and other sciences.
• Simple game form
• Any phone with SMS support is sufficient for the service to work.
• Free trial period: 3 days
• Subscription fee: 3.13 soms per day including all taxes

The game is based on duels. After you have connected to the service, you will receive 3 different questions of the same category. Next, the system will prompt you to select a player (the subscriber can indicate a specific number that is connected to the service) or continue the game. Opponents are simultaneously sent an SMS with a question and 4 answer options. You must send the correct answer by reply message. Based on the results of the duel, the winner is awarded points. The maximum duel time is 5 minutes.

In order to complete all levels of the game, the subscriber just needs to follow the instructions that will be received via SMS.

The subscriber is rewarded with virtual titles and bonuses for receiving points: