On behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin, fifth-generation commercial communications networks have been launched in Russia for the first time. This is stated in the message of the Ministry of Finance.
At the first stage, 5G services were launched in 16 cities, and about 10 million people received access to high-speed fifth-generation mobile Internet.
5G-based services will be provided by the Big Four operators.
All four operators have launched 5G in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg. In Novosibirsk and Kazan — MegaFon and MTS, in Samara — Beeline and MegaFon, in Veliky Novgorod, Krasnodar, Nizhny Novgorod and Tver — MegaFon, in Volgograd, Krasnoyarsk, Perm and Chelyabinsk — T2, in Ufa — MTS, in Yaroslavl — Beeline.
In the near future, all owners of Android devices will be able to use the services in these cities. iPhone owners' access to 5G depends on Apple's decision.
The introduction of 5G in Russia involves a consistent increase in coverage. It is planned to launch the technology in 50 more cities by the end of 2026. At the first stage, 5G will operate on LTE frequencies previously allocated to operators. This will increase network capacity by 20-25% in the coming years. Additionally, the operators received new bands in the range of 4.63-4.99 GHz in equal volume and free of charge.
