Russia’s fourth largest cellco by subscribers, Tele2 has expanded the reach of its 4G LTE mobile network to the Udmurtia Republic and the region of Vologda, bringing the total number of regions covered by LTE to 31. The company claims to be the only operator providing services in the 800MHz spectrum band in the Udmurtia Republic, while Tele2 also plans to launch base transceiver stations (BTS) in the 1800MHz frequency band in the third quarter of this year in the region, stating that with this development it would then be able to provide 70% of Udmurtia’s population with 4G technology.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database Tele2 first introduced a 4G LTE network in Russia in November 2014, focusing coverage in the main cities. It has since rolled out further 4G networks in the 1800MHz, 800MHz and 450MHz frequency bands as it builds towards a planned 5G launch in 2020.