MTS-owned base station developer tests Asian smartphones on 5G networks

MTS-owned 5G base station developer Irtea is in talks with a number of Chinese smartphone manufacturers to test devices in the 4.4-4.9 GHz range. The company is relying on Chinese devices, since Western suppliers have already limited cooperation with Russian telecom operators in setting up the operation of their equipment. But even if Asian gadgets are upgraded at frequencies of 4.8–5.0 GHz, their operation may be unstable, since the range has a number of limitations.

The developer of Irtea base stations (100% owned by the MTS operator) is negotiating with a number of Chinese smartphone manufacturers to test their devices in 5G networks in the range of 4.4–4.9 GHz, the company’s director of strategic communications, Alexander Sivolobov, told Kommersant. . According to him, the company is interested in such vendors as Tecno, Infinix, OnePlus, Realme, Oppo, Honor, etc. He did not specify with whom exactly negotiations are underway. Honor, Realme and Tecno declined to comment. OnePlus, Infinix and Oppo did not respond to Kommersant’s request.

In Russia, the 4.4–4.9 GHz range was chosen as a priority for 5G development in 2022. The global standard is the 3.4–3.8 GHz range, but in the Russian Federation it is occupied by intelligence agencies. Testing is necessary to ensure that vendors’ smartphones work correctly with Russian equipment in the selected frequencies, explains Alexander Sivolobov: “If we find shortcomings in the support of domestic 5G mobile networks, we will present our colleagues with a list of problems that require solutions for the effective operation of their smartphones in Russian networks.”

According to Mr. Sivolobov, now Asian brands officially supplied to the Russian Federation do not work in Russian 5G, and those devices that were designed for the Chinese market, although they support the 4.4–4.9 GHz range, do not function in some domestic bands LTE, for example, at 2.3–2.4 GHz or 832–862 MHz.

Before the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, American and South Korean smartphones from Apple, Google and Samsung supported the Russian 5G band, Alexander Sivolobov clarifies, but after February 2022, these vendors stopped cooperating with Russian operators to the extent necessary for stable operation. According to him, testing Chinese smartphones should lead to the development of software for the Russian market so that the smartphone can support all LTE and 5G frequencies.

Meanwhile, testing of the Irtea 4G and 5G base stations themselves by telecom operators should begin only in the first half of 2024. According to Kommersant, Irtey and MTS signed a forward contract for the supply of 20 thousand base stations until 2030 (see Kommersant on November 20).

There are currently no commercial 5G networks in the Russian Federation, but operators have been launching test zones of the standard since 2021. They allow you to “test” the technology in conditions as close as possible to commercial operation, explains the author of the Telegram channel “Telekommunalka” Alexey Slukin. However, he notes, the test zones were launched on foreign equipment, and now it requires updates.

“We have a fifth-generation pilot zone on the basis of the Botkin Hospital – the site was launched by Rostelecom as Russia’s first industrial site for 5G,” Tele2 told Kommersant. VimpelCom noted that testing terminals with network equipment is “a common practice among both equipment suppliers and telecom operators.” The operator did not specify whether it currently has a 5G test zone. The fate of MegaFon’s test zone is unknown; the company’s press service declined to comment. MTS refused to comment on the performance and frequency range of their test zone. The operator launched it at Skolkovo.

The 4.9 GHz band is accepted in China for 5G along with 2.6 GHz and 3.5 GHz, says a Kommersant source in the telecom market, however, he adds, these frequencies are not suitable for mass coverage because they have low penetrating ability : “In practice, this leads to the fact that the coverage area of ​​the base station is sharply reduced, and a standard city wall becomes an insurmountable obstacle.” The 4.9 GHz band is more suitable for the commercial segment, says the source: “It is logical to use it only in crowded places, for example, in stadiums, where there are no long distances and there is a need to transmit a large amount of data.”

Timofey Kornev, Alexey Zhabin