As of October 2026, Russia has deployed nearly 6,000 5G base stations, accounting for approximately 0.375% of the country's total radio electronic infrastructure. The T2 operator leads the deployment with 4,093 units, followed by MTS with 871, VimpelCom with 763, and MegaFon with 259 stations.
The total number of radio electronic devices in Russia has reached over 1.6 million, including more than 1 million LTE stations, 372,000 2G stations, and 230,000 3G stations. Current 5G networks operate in a pilot mode using existing LTE frequency bands, which were repurposed through software updates.
The implementation of these pilot 5G networks resulted in a 19.7% increase in median upload speeds to 10.3 Mbps and a 13.7% increase in download speeds to 27.56 Mbps. Testing is currently conducted without charging subscriber fees, utilizing the 4.63–4.99 GHz frequency range.
Starting in 2027, Russian telecommunications operators are scheduled to begin transitioning to domestic equipment for their network infrastructure. This transition marks the next phase in the development of fifth-generation mobile networks across the country.
