Active deployment of 5G on domestic equipment in major Russian cities will begin in 2026, and preparatory work on the project will take place in 2025 - this was previously stated by the head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Maksut Shadayev.
Changes in the Frequency Allocation Table confirm the seriousness of the state's intentions to launch fifth-generation networks by the end of the decade - for the first time, the range in which they will operate is fixed at the level of one of the key regulatory documents for the industry, noted TelecomDaily CEO Denis Kuskov.
“There is now clarity th canada whatsapp number database at will help move the solution to the problem of 5G frequencies off dead center,” he believes.
Specifying the bands for 5G deployment in the table is an important step, according to network frequency planners.
— Moreover, expanding the radio frequency band to 4400–4990 MHz instead of the original 4800–4990 MHz band will help find a sufficient amount of spectrum for the normal development of 5G networks. However, work still needs to be done to determine the conditions for compatibility with other users in this band before it will be possible to say exactly what spectrum will actually be available to operators, — the Izvestia source said.
From the moment the provisions of any band are included in the national table until the actual deployment of communication networks in it, more than one year may pass, a representative of Megafon believes.
“Last year, as part of a joint venture between operators in the 5G sector, we investigated the availability of the 4 GHz band. The results showed that the frequency resource available in it for future fifth-generation networks is seriously limited,” he noted.
To free up a resource sufficient for the market, it is necessary to carry out organizational and technical measures, including dynamic use of the spectrum: this is the request the joint venture made to the State Commission on Radio Frequencies, Megafon added. They hope that, given the adopted changes to the radio frequency table, the commission will authorize the joint venture to carry out this work.
Developing networks at frequencies of 4.4–4.99 GHz is more expensive than at 3.4–3.8 GHz, Tele2 claims. There are fewer subscriber terminals that support 4.4–4.99 GHz than devices that support the 3.5–3.8 GHz range, says the operator's representative Daria Kolesnikova. As for the launch dates for fifth-generation networks, they will depend on the readiness of domestic equipment in large quantities, its cost, and the conditions for allocating frequencies, she noted.
According to a VimpelCom representative, the issue of the emergence of domestic equipment for 5G using this range remains open.
The latest iPhone models support the 4.8-4.99 GHz band, a source in the Izvestia communications market claims. He specified that this range is used for cellular communications in China and Japan. At the same time, he noted that Apple controls everything that happens with its smartphones around the world - the company determines which frequencies they can operate in which country.
There are examples of such connection management by Apple. For example, in the early 2010s, the company did not allow Russian operators to launch 4G on the iPhone for some time: market participants unofficially explained this by the fact that Russian companies had an unfinished option for switching devices from 4G to 3G mode when receiving incoming calls.
— The 4.4–4.99 GHz range has many limitations. In particular, global vendors almost never produce 5G base stations for it. But this problem is offset by the fact that Russia is focusing on domestic developers — and they can create equipment for this band from scratch, too, — Leonid Konik believes.
According to international rules, the new 5G range is de facto closed for use in part of the Russian Federation, he recalled. To protect neighboring countries from interference, it is prohibited to install 5G base stations operating in the 4.8–4.95 GHz band closer than 300 km from the land border and 450 km from the sea border.
As for the deployment of 5G networks in border areas, if the state and operators can agree on this with neighboring countries, then coverage will be provided, noted an Izvestia source in the communications market.