The Ministry of Digital Development reported that 5G communication services have begun operating in 16 Russian cities.
According to the ministry's statement, high-speed fifth-generation mobile internet has become available to approximately ten million people. Services based on 5G will be provided by the big four operators.
The launch of the network in Tver, Samara, Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk was attended by heads of telecom operators: Khachatur Pombukhchan of MegaFon, Sergey Anokhin of Beeline, Anton Godovikov of T2 and Inessa Galaktionova of MTS.
The Ministry of Digital Development noted that over six years the volume of mobile internet traffic has grown more than threefold, so the deployment of 5G is of particular importance for large cities.
For subscribers of all four operators, 5G is available in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Yekaterinburg. In Novosibirsk and Kazan the service is provided by MegaFon and MTS, in Samara by Beeline and MegaFon, in Veliky Novgorod, Krasnodar, Nizhny Novgorod and Tver by MegaFon, in Volgograd, Krasnoyarsk, Perm and Chelyabinsk by T2, in Ufa by MTS, and in Yaroslavl by Beeline.
The ministry added that in the very near future the services in these cities will be available to all owners of devices on the Android platform, while for iPhone owners this depends on a decision by Apple Corporation.
It clarified that at the first stage 5G will operate on LTE frequencies allocated to operators, which will make it possible to increase network capacity in the coming years by 20-25 percent. In addition, operators received new bands in the 4.63-4.99 GHz range in equal volume and on a free basis.
In conclusion, the ministry stated: 5G technology is a comprehensive ecosystem designed for the digital transformation of the economy. Its introduction will contribute not only to increasing mobile internet speed.
By the end of the year the technology is planned to be launched in another 50 cities.