Deputy Minister Targets 24.5GHz-29.5GHz 5G Auction By Year-End

Russia’s Deputy Minister of Communications Oleg Ivanov expects to hold the first commercial 5G frequency auctions in the range of 24.5GHz-29.5GHz by the end of 2019, he told Vedomosti. In addition, the deputy minister expects that 5G in the 4.4GHz-4.9GHz band will be developed in the near-term, in the absence of available 3.5GHz 5G spectrum which is currently reserved for military/security/intelligence use. Furthermore, Ivanov claims that all the ‘big four’ operators – MTS, MegaFon, Beeline and Tele2 (backed by Rostelecom) – are ‘ready’ to jointly build 5G infrastructure using sub-6GHz bands. He was quoted as saying: ‘The operators have reached a consensus on approaches to creating a single infrastructure operator – specifically for building [wholesale, shared 5G] infrastructure for the band below 6GHz, not for doing business [with end-users].’

Meanwhile, Tele2 Russia has announced that its ongoing 5G pilot in central Moscow recorded a top speed of 2.1Gbps using the 28GHz band, Cnews reported, with minimum latency of 9ms.―Tele Geography