Russian telecom giant & China’s Huawei launch 5G zones in Russian cities

Russian mobile operator MTS has teamed up with Chinese tech giant Huawei for a 5G pilot scheme in Moscow and Kronshtadt, where for the first time the super-fast network will cover almost the entire city.

The agreement between the two parties was signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia in June, when he met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and took part in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

The network became operational at the VDNKh (All-Russian Exhibition Center), one of the major attractions in the Russian capital, on Thursday. Functioning on the 28GHz and 4.9GHz frequency bands, it will test so-called Smart City technology, designed to improve security and urban services management, as well as helping to develop the transport system, according to MTS.

FILE PHOTO: A 5G sign at Huawei's booth at Mobile World Congress in Shanghai © Reuters / Aly Song

5G also makes some futuristic movie-like applications realistic, for example, you can make a “holographic” phone call, the head of Huawei’s division in Russia, Zhao Lei, said. It also speeds up development of self-driving transport in the city and other future technologies, according to Eduard Lysenko, head of the Department of Information Technologies of Moscow.

While the super-fast network is now available only around one pavilion of the historical complex, by 2020 the pilot zone is expected to expand and cover almost the whole of the VDNKh area.

“According to our forecasts, we expect a sevenfold increase of 5G traffic in Moscow by 2025,” said Igor Egorov, MTS’s Moscow region director.

Meanwhile in Kronshtadt, a city in Kotlin Island, not far from St. Petersburg, is to become the first city in Russia where the next-generation network covers almost the entire population, according to MTS.

Those who have 5G-capable smartphones will enjoy super-fast internet, as the first phone connected to the network demonstrated an internet speed of 1.2Gbps. In reality, it means that it will take you around one minute to download a full HD movie.

The first 5G zone was launched in Moscow earlier this month, covering the famous Tverskaya Street. Swedish telecom company Ericsson provided the equipment for the network, which is run by Russian mobile operator Tele2.

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