The mobile connection of company  MTS-Ukraine hasn’t already worked for a few weeks on a biggest part of a territory controlled by mercenaries. Informator.lg.ua tried to understand could Luhansk people expect for the recovery of the normal work of this mobile operartor. Also, we tried to find out how breaks with mobile connection in a few districts of Luhansk region are close to proclamations of insurgents about the creation of a new “republic” mobile operator.

During the war conflict on Donbass a lot of us began to appreciate in a real way such a banal and usual service for everyone, like mobile connection. We take it as a granted thing for a long years. And now, when war divided thousands of families and closer to each other people with frontline, the residents of Eastern Ukraine begin to understand what is it priceless possibility to speak with native human “on that side” by the telephone.

There was regular problems with mobile connection during the past year in ATO zone. Every mobile provider had a problems with mobile connection for some reasons on uncontrolled territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

According to words of representative of one of mobile operators, the technical reasons of appearing of problems with connection in ATO zone is banal enough: the breakings and thefts of fiber optic cables, connecting the base stations; the interruptions with power of the base stations; difficulties with access of employees of companies-providers to objects on uncontrolled territory to make the technical support of them.

Historically, the most popular and demand operator on Donbass was “MTS-Ukraine”. The main weight of supporting connection between occupied parts of Donbass and big land laid on a shoulders of this mobile provider.

Photo by Slavyanoserbsk.com

There is a special division, dedicated to the problem of mobile connection on East of Ukraine on the site of MTS-Ukraine company for today.  This part of site is regularly updates and the information about the availability and signal strength in some parts of the region appears there.

It’s hard to say, if this company was really ready for such serious responsibility. However, despite of all difficulties the mobile connection of this operator with real breaks recently worked on occupied territories. Such work of it could be called satisfactory, adjusted for fighting.

At the same time often missings in the work of mobile connection provoked a large number of rumors from the both sides of the “demarcation line”. So, soon appearing in “Novorossiya” its own operator was discussed in social media and on the forums in winter 2014-2015. The versions about using “the forced away” equipment of MTS to provide new connection appeared in the cyberspace.

The regular «avalanche» of such rumors began to spread in June 2015, when MTS-connection disappeared once again in Luhansk and its suburbs. Mobile connection has been absenting in Luhansk and outskirts for two weeks.

Such circumstance that leadership of “LPR” began to claim that new operator would appear in “republic” played its serious role.

Ihor Plotnitsky again claimed that during two-three weeks the operator of “Luhansk People’s Republic” “Lugacom” will begin its work.

The variant of logo of new mobile operator from infonews

It won’t be the excess to remind that according to application of press-service of “Kyivstar” mobile operator, the parts of equipment, which was captured by insurgents in Luhansk and Donetsk regions, are not enough to create the functional working network. The specialists of the company are sure that insurgents need the additional equipment for autonomic GSM-net to appear. Such aparat must allow to operate the net on the captured stations and also “militias” need the help of qualified specialists.

According to reports of Luhansk Radar” with link on the locals, the service center of MTS-company is continuing to function, but its employees also find it difficult to answer the question, when full mobile connection will be completely recovered in the city.

We asked the representative of support service of MTS to comment this situation. The employee assured us that company has the interest to continue work on the territories of Luhansk and Donetsk regions, because there are a lot of their abonents.

Our interlocutor repeated word by word the content of press-releases of MTS-company about interruptions of power of base stations. He only added that a significant fragment of the fiber optic cable, connecting a big number of base stations of the mobile operator, was stolen and it became the main problem of connection of MTS on June.

The correspondent of informator.lg.ua asked if there are still a problems with access of MTS staff on the uncontrolled territory. The employee of support service claimed that such difficulties appeared earlier and they have been continuing to fix till that time.

At the end of conversation we were assured that representatives of MTS-Ukraine do all their best to recover the mobile connection in the region as soon as possible.

We decided to ask the so-called “Ministry of Infrastructure of “Luhansk People’s Republic”, dialing the telephone number, located on the site of “People’s Council of “LPR”. After our asking how “authority” reacts on the situation with absence of mobile connection, the representative of “the ministry” claimed, that authority of “republic” didn’t prevents the work of mobile operator, but MTS-company “has its own reasons not to connect them”.

Also our interlocutor claimed that according to his data it is needed 1 million of rubles to recover MTS mobile connection on the territory of “republic”.

As we see no one from interviewed respondents of both sides can ask when mobile connection on uncontrolled by Ukraine territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions will be recovered. But we can’t absolutely exclude the possible “agreements” between leadership of “republic” and MTS-Ukraine.

Theoretically, the operator of mobile connection could give way to created in “LPR” mobile operator this specific market , where day by day is hard to work. However, it’s hard to imagine, what profit could made the leadership of MTS to take such serious reputational risks and voluntarily “go out” from the market of mobile connection of one of their base regions.

Aleksei Chernov for informator.lg.ua