Cable Wars. In the Urals, power engineers cut wires for signalmen

But residents suffer from a commercial dispute, they simply cut off their communication channels.

Alexander Dybin

Intersvyaz, a major Internet provider in the Southern Urals, told Novye Izvestia that the dispute over the poles resulted in the cutting of Internet wires in Zlatoust and Chelyabinsk. On October 4, residents of several streets were left without access to the global network and cable TV.

“Networkers left the inhabitants of Zlatoust without vital services during a difficult period for the country, statements were written to the police and the prosecutor's office on the fact of the destruction of communication facilities,” the Internet provider said. - Networkers barbarously cut the wires. People are now without communication and sources of information. It was possible to stop the electric grid operators for a while thanks to the appearance of journalists. However, they promised to continue their "work" later. The destruction of subscriber lines was carried out along Taganayskaya street. They declined to comment on their actions on camera".

Similar work on cutting wires from their poles was carried out by network operators in Chelyabinsk.

According to the press service of the Rosseti Ural company, they have long demanded to resolve the issue of placing communication cables with the Internet provider, but in the end they did not come to an agreement and are now cutting "foreign" cables from their poles.

“Rosseti Ural has repeatedly negotiated and informed providers about the need to legalize communication lines located on the power grid infrastructure without the consent of the owner. The negotiations were held at various levels with the participation of government officials in the most open format, - the company told Novye Izvestia, - a number of providers in the Chelyabinsk region have been using the property of electric grid companies for unauthorized laying of communication lines for years, allowing interference in the functioning of the energy infrastructure and infringing on the interests of colleagues, who properly regulated the relationship for the placement of equipment. Power engineers have repeatedly warned that if facts of illegal placement of communication lines on power lines are revealed, the company's specialists will be forced to dismantle this equipment to ensure reliable operation of the region's power grid complex. The deadlines within which it was necessary to legalize the existing relations were announced. A number of provider companies took advantage of this. At present, these relations between signalmen and power engineers are being properly formalized”.

Rosseti Ural said they were trying to find the owner of the cables cut the day before in Zlatoust, but no one claimed their rights to the fiber optic line, so they cut it off.

“We also entered into a dialogue with the Intersvyaz provider with a request to confirm or deny the fact of owning a communication line on poles located in Zlatoust. Representatives of the provider who arrived at the scene reported that there was no information regarding the owner of this equipment, refusing to sign the inventory documentation, - Rosseti Ural reported, - only after that, the power engineers dismantled part of the communication line, as it interfered with the performance of production tasks. Subsequently, information about the “destruction” of the property of Intersvyaz-Zlatoust was disseminated to a number of media. This company, unlike other telecom operators, has not concluded an appropriate agreement and does not pay for equipment placement services”.

According to the CEO of Intersvyaz, Eduard Kalinin, the provider is now trying to restore the Internet on the streets where the cables were cut. He assures that the company does not refuse negotiations and is ready to pay.

“Completed a joint inventory of the Rosseti poles for the placement of Intersvyaz-Zlatoust communication lines. Relevant acts have been signed, the process of concluding an agreement is underway. Nevertheless, employees of Rosseti began to destroy subscriber communication lines, which, in their opinion, were placed illegally, - said Kalinin, - now we are restoring a section of the network. In the future, the damage will be calculated and applications will be submitted to the relevant departments. Residents of private houses who suffered from the actions of the electric grid company have already written appeals to the police and the prosecutor's office. We insist that, according to the law, the dismantling of communication facilities is possible only by a court decision, which was not”.

Apparently, the local authorities will have to deal with the conflict between networkers and signalers. The Intersvyaz company announced that they were preparing an appeal to the governor of the region, Alexey Teksler.