PRESS: Ministry offers unpopular band to develop 5G in Russia

MOSCOW, Aug 12 (PRIME) -- Russia could pick a 4.4–4.99 GHz frequency range, unpopular in most of the countries with the exception of China and Japan, for 5G due to scarcity of the resource, business daily Kommersant reported on Monday.

The Digital Development Ministry offered to consider the range as a priority option for 5G, according to an updated draft of development of the technology until 2020. A 3.4–3.8 GHz range is not excluded either, but the band should be converted for civil use from military purposes.

The band suggested by the ministry will make exploiting local equipment possible, while the appearance of foreign analogues would be unlikely in the next three–five years because demand will be low since such frequencies are considered for 5G only in China and Japan.

The ministry admits that the whole industry targets the 3.4–3.8 GHz range, and the choice of 4.4–4.99 GHz contains the risk of falling behind the rest of the world, but work with local manufacturers of telecom equipment is in progress and a report on their readiness will be presented in November.

A spokesperson for state-controlled telecom operator Rostelecom said the ministry’s idea would delay 5G roll-out and make it more expensive. Mobile operators MTS, MegaFon, and VimpelCom said 3.4–3.8 GHz is the only economically justified band.

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