Russia is experiencing a shortage of frequencies for mobile internet. Due to problems with the LTE range and the cessation of supplies of network equipment to the Russian Federation, internet speed will continue to drop — experts and operators interviewed by Izvestia warned about this risk.
Most frequencies allocated for fourth-generation networks cannot be used to the full extent due to restrictions from other users, business representatives noted. The Ministry of Digital Development acknowledges the problem, but only for some cities with a population of over one million. The department sees a way out croatia cell phone number list of the situation in the joint use of the spectrum and the transfer of frequencies initially allocated for 3G to LTE. VimpelCom (operating under the Beeline brand), in particular, has carried out such a transfer in the Moscow region.
VimpelCom has started using frequencies in the 2.1 GHz range intended for 3G in the Moscow region to provide fourth-generation (LTE) services, the company told Izvestia. This frequency transfer (refarming) has increased the average mobile Internet speed by 1.5 times, the operator's representatives are confident. It has become easier to share heavy files, download and upload high-resolution videos. In addition, the reliability of the 4G network for the company's clients has increased due to the growth of the network capacity, the operator's press service noted. 3G traffic in the region is decreasing, while LTE is growing, they added.
Refarming is one of the operators' tools that helps overcome the shortage of frequencies for LTE, which leads to a decrease in the speed of mobile Internet and the speed of loading sites with an overall increase in traffic, an employee of a partner company of several operators explained to Izvestia. According to him, this problem has been emerging in the Russian Federation for a long time, for example in the Moscow region, one of the most problematic regions due to the highest load on the networks. Before this, the problems with the lack of new frequencies were solved by installing additional base stations. But this year, the situation was aggravated by the cessation of supplies of new equipment to the Russian Federation, the Izvestia source complained.