At the end of last week, subscribers of the Lovit Internet provider in Moscow and St. Petersburg experienced interruptions in the Internet. And although the provider reported on March 23 that access had been restored, complaints from Lovit users continue to arrive, as shown by data from the Downdetector service, Kommersant writes. In connection with this, users filed a complaint with the FAS, which promised to deal with the problem.
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The service outages in Lovit were linked to a DDoS attack, in which, according to Roskomnadzor, hackers “mainly from the US, Germany and Sweden” took part. It is reported that more than 200 thousand people who live in new buildings of the PIK company, where Lovit is the only Internet provider, faced the problem – there is no way to connect to other operators.
Residents of these microdistricts sign petitions demanding that other communication service providers be allowed to operate, and chat rooms in residential complexes in Lublin, Salaryevo, Mitino, Myakinino and Zhulebino are filled with messages about the lack of Internet access, non-working smart intercoms and cash registers in stores. Complaints are received by the Downdetector service from Lovit users in Moscow, the Moscow Region, Tver, St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region.
One of the listeners of Kommersant FM radio said that the residents had repeatedly tried to change the provider, but to no avail. The last answer he received was: “Sorry, there is no such technical possibility at the moment.”
Lovit and its subsidiaries have no competitors in the buildings of the developer PIK, but proving the existence of a monopoly conspiracy is always difficult, notes Sergey Sergeev, head of the housing and utilities department of the legal group Yakovlev and Partners. “If now some other providers complain that they were not allowed in, then the FAS should issue an order to the management company to eliminate the violations and ensure access to the providers to the necessary common property for placing equipment,” he explained.
The expert of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry on housing and communal services issues, Susana Kirakosyan, emphasized that the imposition of a provider by the developer is unacceptable. According to the law, any owner has the right to choose his own provider, conclude an agreement and determine the technical capabilities of laying networks.
Lovit Director Maria Lyakhova reported that after serious technical failures, the main volume of services has already been restored. “In the near future, we plan to implement additional security measures, as well as develop new mechanisms that will ensure the security of the entire provider infrastructure from similar attacks in the future,” she said, noting that the company is ready for inspections by the antimonopoly service.