The government expects that by 2029, all base stations of GSM, LTE, and 5G standards installed by telecom operators will be exclusively of Russian production. However, the Ministry of Digital Development is currently focusing on the previously prescribed deadlines for LTE equipment, which should begin to be completely replaced from 2028. In addition, the criteria for recognizing equipment as Russian are not yet clear.
According to the federal project "Domestic Solutions" approved by the government, which will be included in the national project "Data Economy", in 2029, the share of base stations of GSM, LTE, and 5G standards of Russian production in the total volume of annually installed ones should reach 100%. The document states that their share will be increased annually by operators by more than two times: from 6% in 2025 to 33% in 2027, and will reach 100% in 2029.
In the office of the relevant Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko, it was clarified that the federal project will be finalized after the completion of all interdepartmental approvals of the "Data Economy". The Ministry of Digital Development added that, according to the decision of the State Commission for Radio Frequencies in December 2023, the obligation to install only Russian base stations was established "in relation to LTE starting from 2028, there are currently no plans for GSM".
In 2021, the SCRF obliged telecom operators to use domestic equipment when building LTE networks. The deadlines for the implementation of this obligation were shifted from 2023 to 2027. In 2024, a similar requirement appeared for 5G networks. The development of Russian base stations since 2022 has been carried out by the companies Irteya, Bulat, and KNS Group.
The General Director of Irteya, Dmitry Lakontsev, said that the company has a forward contract with MTS for the supply of 20 thousand LTE standard base stations until 2030. The ICS Holding declined to comment, and Bulat did not respond to requests.
MTS is preparing to fulfill the government's requirements, but noted that "no decisions on GSM base stations have yet been received." In 2024–2025, the company plans to introduce Bulat base stations in 67 regions. MegaFon also has contracts for the supply of base stations with Yadro and Bulat.
Nevertheless, a source of "Ъ" in the telecom market pointed out that there is not enough equipment that meets the requirements of operators, and the estimated time of its appearance is, at best, 2026.
In addition, the new regulation of the Ministry of Industry and Trade on the recognition of equipment as Russian is not yet clear, which creates uncertainty for the future of Russian equipment. Within one subject, operators usually build a network on the equipment of one manufacturer, since each vendor has its own management systems and software. A network consisting of equipment from several vendors requires more attention and manual configuration, which can lead to problems, for example, disconnections for the subscriber when reconnecting between stations of different manufacturers. Also, domestic equipment must undergo many years of testing.
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