Veon (formerly known as VimpelCom) is facing an investigation in Russia over roaming violations, the country’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) announced.

The watchdog confirmed it had opened an antimonopoly case relating to the costs of inbound and outbound long-distance calls charged by the operator on travellers in Russia, which are “unreasonably overrated”.

In a statement, FAS said the operator had issued a report regarding the cancellation of intra-network roaming practices which failed to meet requirements set by the watchdog. The regulator issued an order in 2017 warning operators to eliminate “economically or technologically unreasonable difference in tariffs for subscribers travelling outside their ‘home’ region”.

It added that eliminating these charges “must not deteriorate” service quality.

FAS last week opened similar investigations into the country’s other leading operators, MTS and MegaFon.

Deputy head of FAS, Anatoly Golomolzin said if the three investigations expose violations “injunctions can be issued to transfer the income gained through violating the antimonopoly law to the budget”.

The FAS added the country’s other major operator, Tele2 Russia, had satisfied its requirements.