Beltelecom, Belarus’ national telecommunications company, will keep its monopoly on the carriage of international web traffic “for the time being,” Communications Minister Mikalay Pantsyaley told reporters in Minsk on April 16.
The minister stressed that there were more than 100 Internet service providers in Belarus. “None of them has complained that Beltelecom does not give them access to international networks, there are only tensions over the cost of its services,” he said.
Belarusian Internet service providers use Beltelecom’s infrastructure but spend no money on the construction of telecommunications networks. “As far as we know, Belarus is the only country where the national operator allows other providers to use its infrastructure in their business operations,” Pantsyaley said.
The minister noted a rapid increase in the number of broadband Internet users in Belarus. “We hope that apart from Beltelecom, private providers also will take efforts to invest in the development of their networks and provide web access services,” he said, adding that the number of Internet users with broadband connection may rise to at least 1.7 million in Belarus by the end of 2010.
