According to statistics, Russians pay about four times less per month for Internet access than residents of many Western European countries, and almost seven times less than residents of the United States.

In Russia, the Internet is one of the most affordable in the world. So, according to the British company Cable, Russia was among the five countries with the cheapest access to the Network. According to Cable, the average monthly Internet fee in Russia is $ 9.77. For comparison, Americans pay an average of almost $ 68 per month, the British-about$ 40, and in Germany the Internet costs almost$ 37 per month. Why do Russians pay less for access to the world wide web than residents of many other countries, says Internet Ombudsman Dmitry Marinichev.

"It is more correct to talk about a set of reasons. The first-especially the spread of the Internet in a particular country. Each country is unique in terms of the historical development of the Internet. Thus, in Russia everything was done exclusively on a commercial basis: in the market of Internet providers, Telecom operators there was quite a lot of competition. Accordingly, in order to withstand this competition, companies had to lower prices for their services," Marinichev said.

The second reason for the low Internet prices in Russia, the Internet Ombudsman calls the lack of monopoly of a particular operator to provide communications to a particular household or district. "For example, in many European countries, you can not choose the provider you like and hold its Internet cable to the apartment: the connection process is officially monopolized by the operator who has a contract with the management company of the house. In Russia this is not. Because of what again increases competition, therefore, the price is somehow reduced, " explains the expert.

In addition, as Dmitry Marinichev says, in Russia there are good state programs for connecting budgetary institutions to the Internet, which stimulates the arrival of operator companies in small towns and small settlements. "To connect to the Internet, you need two conditions: the presence of a trunk connection and the so-called "last mile". The main operator, the channel, goes between the cities, as a long-distance bus service. The "last mile" is the point of presence from which households and apartments are directly connected. To connect educational and medical institutions to the Internet, it is necessary to provide a trunk connection. Often this is done within the framework of state programs, which greatly facilitates the arrival of the operator in a small and otherwise unprofitable locality. Local operators are beginning to compete with each other, which also allows you to quickly reduce prices and improve the quality of services", — says the Internet Ombudsman.