Russia’s State Commission for Radio Frequencies will not hand out 5G licenses in the 3.4GHz to 3.6GHz bands for subsidiaries of Rostelecom and Megafon, a move to seemingly preserve the space for security agencies.
Russian local newspaper Vedomosti, reported fixed wireless broadband providers FreshTel (Rostelecom) and Neosprint (Megafon) will be denied licenses in that band in an upcoming meeting to be held on November 23, despite both already sitting on spectrum to progress their respective 5G deployments.
Currently, the majority of the band is occupied by government agencies such as law enforcement. The Russian security council opposed the band to be vacated for commercial 5G on grounds of security, which is supported by President Vladimir Putin, according to sources speaking to Vedomosti.
The subsidiaries occupy spectrum in the 3.4GHz to 3.6GHz bands but not enough for full-fledged 5G networks.
The 3.4-3.8 GHz range was earmarked for coverage of large cities due to its ability for high data transfer with a relatively small number of base stations.
