Pagers and paper maps are making a comeback in Moscow – and no, it's not a retro trend

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14 Mar 2026, 15:02 by Zo Ahmed · TechSpot

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The big picture: If you told someone in 2026 that pagers were making a comeback, they would probably assume you were referring to some retro tech trend on TikTok. But that is not the case. This is actually happening in Moscow right now, and the reason has far less to do with nostalgia.

For roughly the past week, mobile internet across central Moscow and parts of St. Petersburg has been intermittently failing. People can't load apps, hail cabs, or, in some cases, even make a basic phone call. That last point is particularly concerning. Entire voice networks have gone dark in parts of the city, effectively cutting people off from the most basic form of digital communication.

The Kremlin acknowledged the disruptions earlier this week, saying they were necessary to "ensure security." Beyond that, officials added only that the restrictions would remain in place as long as deemed necessary.

The bigger story, however, may be what human rights groups told The Guardian they suspect: Russia could be quietly testing a so-called "whitelist" system. If you're not familiar with the concept, it's essentially the inverse of typical internet censorship. Instead of blocking specific sites, a whitelist only allows access to a pre-approved list of websites while cutting off everything else. Officials have indicated that the list would cover essentials such as delivery platforms and online pharmacies.

Whatever the case, the economic impact of the outages has been significant. Russia's business newspaper Kommersant estimated that Moscow is losing around 1 billion roubles per day due to the disruptions – roughly $12.5 million daily. Courier companies and ride-hailing apps have been hit hard, as have brick-and-mortar retailers that rely on digital payment systems. Even lawmakers in the State Duma, Russia's parliament, complained on Thursday that they couldn't get online inside their own building.

With digital infrastructure failing across the city, Muscovites have resorted to something that would have seemed unthinkable just a few years ago: buying pagers. Data from the e-commerce platform Wildberries & Russ, reported by United24, showed that pager sales jumped 73% in the first week of March compared with the same period in February. Walkie-talkie purchases climbed 27% over the same window. And because GPS-based navigation apps obviously don't work without a connection, demand for physical paper maps and city atlases of Moscow has nearly tripled.

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Authorities have also reportedly blocked WhatsApp, Facebook, and YouTube. Rumors suggest that Telegram could be next as early as April, potentially cutting off one of the last major messaging platforms still widely accessible in Russia.

Meanwhile, the government has been nudging citizens toward a state-backed super-app called Max, modeled on China's WeChat – the app that essentially functions as an all-in-one platform there. Like WeChat, Max is widely suspected to be monitored by intelligence agencies.

_{Image credit: Ubuy}