The ministry said the rollout covers 16 cities. In Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, subscribers of all four operators can access the network, Novaya Gazeta Europe reported. In Kazan, Novosibirsk, Samara, Perm, Ufa and Krasnoyarsk, only individual companies have launched 5G so far.
Owners of Android devices will be able to connect "in the very near future," the ministry said. Whether 5G works on the iPhone depends on a decision by Apple. The ministry expects to extend coverage to another 50 cities by the end of the year.
At the first stage, 5G operates on LTE-standard frequencies previously allocated to the operators. The companies additionally received bands in the 4.63–4.99 GHz range.
The 3.4–3.8 GHz range used for 5G in the rest of the world is occupied in Russia by the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Defense Ministry. Operators have long sought these frequencies, but Vladimir Putin reserved them for the military in 2019 and has not changed that decision since.
The Digital Development Ministry attributed the launch to growth in mobile internet traffic.