Russian state-owned companies spent 118 million roubles (€1.26 million) on landline telephones between January and August 2026, more than triple their expenditure during the corresponding period in 2025. Procurement figures cited by business newspaper Vedomosti also showed a 12.5% increase in purchase tenders. With mobile internet shutdowns affecting nearly 80% of the country, ministries and businesses are seeking alternatives to disrupted networks. Purchases are concentrated in major commercial and infrastructure hubs. Industry participants attributed the increase to connectivity restrictions, demand for secure communications and the adoption of domestically produced software-based private telephone exchanges following Western vendors’ withdrawal after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Systematic shutdowns began in May 2025, when mobile internet was disconnected in more than 40 regions ahead of Victory Day celebrations. Initially intermittent, the outages soon became routine: an independent monitoring project counted 655 in June and 2,099 in July. According to analysts, July’s figure exceeded the worldwide total for the whole preceding year. Banking, taxi services, food delivery and navigation have been disrupted, particularly in rural areas. Authorities maintain that the shutdowns counter Ukrainian drones allegedly guided by mobile internet signals. Experts dispute this rationale, noting that drones can follow preset routes without network access and that restrictions extend far beyond the front line.
In March, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the presidential administration used landlines. Rostelecom chief Mikhail Oseyevsky subsequently urged Russians to return to fixed lines. Russia has approximately 12.2 landlines per 100 residents, although the Ministry of Economic Development forecasts a decline to between 8.2 and 8.5 by 2029.
