What frequency range will be used for 5G and how Moscow is preparing for switching to this technology
Tags: Russia, Yandex, Smart Cities, 5g, Moscow

What frequency range will be used for 5G and how Moscow is preparing for switching to this technology ICT.Moscow Follow Aug 19, 2019 · 3 min read

ICT.Moscow’s weekly roundup

Last week we witnessed the change in the position of the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media on the question about the preferential frequency range for 5G development in the country. Initially, the range had been claimed as 4.4–4.99 GHz, but a few days later the concept changed, and the conventional frequency range 3.4–3.8 GHz was chosen. Most countries use this range, and so the required equipment will be more easily available. In Russia these frequencies are also used by the military, who strongly oppose the conversion.

There still was hope that the optimum frequency range will become available with the involvement of the president. Nevertheless, according to Vedomosti, Vladimir Putin agreed with the Security Council of the Russian Federation that it was inadmissible to transfer the 3.4–3.8 GHz range to civilians. This statement appears strange as in February the president in his message to the Federal Assembly remarked on the importance of rapid implementation of 5G in Russia.

Despite the fact that the question about the frequency range is yet to be settled, Moscow is actively preparing to implement the new technology. To test how 5G interacts with previous generation net-works, explore the potential of its utilizing and its functionality the capital authorities concluded agreements with telecom operators. The first pilot area is already opened in Tverskaya Street, three more are still to be opened by the end of autumn (in Skolkovo, VDNKh and Vorobyovy Gory (Sparrow Hills). The technology will be tested using n257 range (26.5 GHz — 29.5 GHz). The project will not be funded from the budget of Moscow, but the Moscow Department of Information Technology will coordinate it, providing assistance and access to infrastructure.

Photo by Tele2

Smart cities

5G technology plays key role in the building of smart cities. The technology is being tested not only in Moscow — businesses can test in pilot areas in Barcelona, for instance.

There are many approaches different cities use for implementing Smart City elements. ICT.Moscow and Smart City Lab department of the Moscow Department of Information Technology is gathering these experiences in one free database. At the moment there are 100 examples from Moscow and 18 Russian cities, which were included in the pilot group of the “Smart City” project implementa-tion. There are 350 smart practices in the database, 47 of which are from Moscow.

Discover Russia’s smart city practices on the ICT.Moscow website (in russian)

Partnership with China

Yandex is going to participate in the development of a new mapping service. Is it created by Chinese Huawei Technologies, american Booking.com is also involved in the process. The launch is planned for October, the product is targeted at the developers who can use the service for their applications.

Huawei devices will probably be installed with Mail.ru Group’s hardware. The Russian company is negotiating with Chinese colleagues and is open to any mutually beneficial partnership. Previously they had been discussing the embedding Yandex’s “Alice” voice assistant into Huawei devices and even installing Russian mobile operating system.

Agrotech in Moscow

Implementation of digital technologies in agriculture makes it possible to grow food in metropolitan areas. The city agrotech is a new and rapidly developing market. The most popular technology is vertical greenhouses, that can be placed in closed spaces.

ICT.Moscow interviewed some experts to understand the potential of agrotech in Moscow and the possible barriers to its development. The experts anticipate in 3–5 years this sector might provide several thousand workplaces. Read more on ICT.Moscow website.