Conversation on the frequency: 5G smartphones for Russia may become a shortage

Russian users of the fifth-generation (5G) cellular communications may face serious restrictions. The choice of smartphones for them, most likely, will be very meagre, and there may not be accessible to international roaming at all, predict experts and market participants interviewed by Izvestia. This will happen if operators are not allocated the 3.4-3.8 GHz frequency band, standard for most countries of the world, which is currently occupied in Russia using military satellite communications. Then cellular companies will have to be content with "exotic" frequencies. And the development of new generation networks will slow down - the backlog could be 3-5 years, the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications explained to Izvestia.

Frequency exotic

The interlocutors of Izvestia call the range 4.8-4.99 GHz exotic frequencies. Its use provides for the concept of 5G development in Russia, developed by order of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications. Recently, the State Commission on Radio Frequencies (SCRF) allocated 4.8-4.99 GHz for the deployment of 5G in several dozen experimental zones (mainly in Moscow and St. Petersburg). But no equipment supports these frequencies, including subscriber ones, yet, market participants and experts interviewed by Izvestia note. 5G at these frequencies is just beginning to develop in China and Japan, it will take 5-7 years to form the ecosystem of the standard in Russia, according to the materials of the Spectrum Management research company, which Izvestia has read. There is a risk that there will be few smartphones supporting 4.8-4.99 GHz, they will not be produced by large manufacturers,

Thus, Russian users of fifth-generation cellular communications may be left without international roaming, a representative of Soyuz LTE, which unites MTS, Megafon, Vimpelcom (Beeline) and Tele2, told Izvestia.

There is such a problem, said Vadim Poskakuhin, project manager at Spectrum Management. Of course, abroad, Russian subscribers are likely to be able to use fourth-generation (LTE) communications, but fast 5G Internet will be unattainable for them, he warns.

Leading analyst at Mobile Research Group Eldar Murtazin is aware of the problems with equipment for 5G at 4.8-4.99 GHz. According to him, most likely, the leading transnational electronics brands (perhaps except Huawei) are unlikely to release devices specifically for Russian 5G networks. 

In general, the situation may be the same as with the Sky Link operator, said a source familiar with the managers of several cellular companies. The operator worked in the IMT-MC-450 standard, which is not widely used in the world. The choice of phones of this standard was small, there were problems with roaming, the source of Izvestia recalled.

Unavailable Spectrum

Experts and market participants interviewed by Izvestia consider the so-called lower frequency range of 3.4–3.8 GHz to be optimal for the construction of 5G networks. Without it, end-to-end network coverage of the fifth generation of cities is impossible, they previously told Izvestia. it turned out that the department recommends using higher ranges and does not approve of 3.4-3.8 GHz. Later, Deputy Prime Minister Maxim Akimov turned to Russian President Vladimir Putin with a request to clear these frequencies.

Sources in the military department explained to Izvestia that this issue is still under study.

Operators call 3.4-3.8 GHz the most attractive range for fifth-generation networks, a representative of Maxim Akimov confirmed to Izvestia. The world's largest vendors in the production of equipment are guided by this range, he says. If we leave the narrow and specific 4.8-4.99 GHz, which runs a very small number of user devices, both the consumer and domestic manufacturers will pay for it, whose products may eventually remain unclaimed, Akimov's representative warns. As for the release work, the conversion of the 3.4-3.8 GHz frequency spectrum promising for the development of 5G in Russia will most likely not happen this year, he added.

Equipment produced for the mass market, as practice shows, is cheaper than what is made in relatively small batches for a specific region, recalls Denis Kuskov, CEO of Telecom Daily. Based on this, it can be assumed that prices for 5G smartphones operating in the 3.4-3.8 GHz band will be lower than those specially created for 4.8-4.99 GHz.

The lack of frequencies in the range of 3.4–3.8 GHz in Russia is the main risk when launching 5G in our country: all world operators are planning to support them, and networks have already been deployed in several countries, said Anna Aibasheva, a representative of VimpelCom. Therefore, there are fears that they simply will not be interested in concluding inter-roaming agreements in such conditions. When issuing only “exotic” frequencies to Russian operators, roamers coming to us will not be able to use 5G, and subscribers in the Russian Federation will be very limited in choosing user devices if they appear, Aibasheva predicts.

The Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications shares the concerns: the 3.4-3.8 GHz band is extremely necessary for 5G, otherwise, Russia will significantly, by 3-5 years, lag behind other countries in the development of networks, a representative of the department told Izvestia.

The 3.4-3.8 GHz band provides the optimal combination of maximum coverage and high access speeds, says MTS representative Alexei Merkutov. It will be global, as it has already been distributed in several Western European countries, in Australia and South Korea, Merkutov confirmed. Under it, equipment will be produced, therefore, the development of this range in Russia will accelerate the launch of 5G networks.

The fact that in Europe the frequencies of 4.8-4.99 GHz are unlikely to be in demand, says the representative of Tele2. He agrees that the backlog in subscriber devices operating in this range will be at least 3-5 years.


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