It is known that the large-scale rollout of fifth-generation communications (5G) in Russia is several years behind other industrialized countries. In addition, the main difficulty is not the problem of equipment acquisition due to trade restrictions by Western countries against the Russian Federation (the equipment can be produced yourself or purchased in China), but the coordination of frequency ranges, since the best “golden” ranges for 5G in the country are allocated to special communications and military communications.
Image source: ChatGPT.
The frequency coordination process was time-consuming, but today it is essentially complete, allowing the Russian Ministry of Digital Development to Report The 16 largest cities in Russia have officially launched 5G networks: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tver, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Samara, Kazan, Ufa, Yaroslavl, Volgograd, Chelyabinsk, Krasnoyarsk, Veliky Novgorod, Perm, Krasnodar and Nizhny Novrod. It should be noted that all the above cities have not yet been provided with 5G by all operators at the same time.
At this stage, Russia’s 5G network will operate within the frequency range where 4G networks currently operate. In the next stage, operators will launch new communication standards in the frequency range from 4630 MHz to 4990 MHz, which are four 90 MHz “bands” of each of the four major operators.
Users of 5G-compatible Android devices living in the above cities can now try out the new mobile communication standard. It is said that on average, 5G network connection speeds are about ten times faster than 4G network connection speeds. For owners of devices running iOS, everything is more complicated: first of all, according to the Department of Digital Development, it is necessary to implement some kind of “Apple solution”. You probably won’t get it. However, as we have pointed out more than once, Apple’s mobile technology is quickly becoming “toxic” in Russia, and it is likely that its time in Russia will gradually fade away.
It should be understood that the rollout of 5G networks is more of a reputation than a practical initiative. The speed provided by 4G is more than sufficient for most users, even when watching “heavy” video content. Under the current well-known reality in Russia, it is impossible to abandon the home “wired” network and rely entirely on the mobile network.