Home Internet provider ER-Telecom and Nokia have signed an agreement to test 5G in the 4.8-4.9 GHz and 27 GHz bands to provide wireless broadband access services to corporate customers.

Base stations from the Airscale line will be used for the pilot project. The project will run until March 31, 2021.

According to Kommersant, testing will be carried out in more than 50 experimental zones, including Moscow and St. Petersburg. The provider wants to use 5G to provide services in those territories of the country where it is impossible to lay a cable. The company also plans to create an “operator for operators" infrastructure. According to Kirill Pischalnikov, Technical Infrastructure Director of ER-Telecom, cellular companies will be able to connect base stations to a fiber-optic network, reducing the cost of building their own infrastructure.

ER-Telecom received frequencies in the ranges of 4.8-4.99 GHz and 27 GHz for testing 5G in July 2019 by the decision of the State Commission on Radio Frequencies.

Original (in Russian)