Federal highways in Russia may be left without continuous mobile Internet coverage due to the lack of energy infrastructure. According to the materials of the State Commission for Radio Frequencies (SCRF), telecom operators will be relieved of their obligations to provide LTE networks on road sections with a total length of more than 1,600 km.
The problem is that 90% of the surveyed highways do not have access to power grids, which makes the installation of base stations technically impossible. In particular, we are talking about the M-5 (463.6 km), M-8 (1095.7 km) and M-12 (48.9 km) highways in the Arkhangelsk, Vladimir, Orenburg and other regions.
Hundreds of kilometers of federal highways still do not have LTE coverage. It is economically unprofitable for operators: they do not want to install base stations where few cars pass and, accordingly, they will not be able to recoup their investments due to the large volume of telecom traffic.
The Ministry of Digital Development explained that the draft decision of the State Commission for Radio Frequencies (SCRF) does not provide for the abolition of the conditions for using previously allocated radio frequency bands. Instead, the commission approved a list of roads on which these restrictions do not apply due to the lack of connection to power grids.
When extending LTE frequency permits, the SCRF decided to build communication infrastructure along roads. Operators are actively working on this and should provide LTE coverage on 70% of federal highways by September 2025 and on 100% by 2031. However, this only applies to those sections that have the necessary energy infrastructure, the agency noted. For sections where the necessary infrastructure is missing, the Ministry of Digital Development is discussing with the Ministry of Energy how to optimize connection to power grids. The possibility of obtaining subsidies from regional budgets for the technical connection of communication facilities to electrical networks is also being considered, the agency said.
The lack of Internet on some highways may stimulate the development of alternative technologies, such as satellite Internet. Russian companies are already working on low-orbit constellations, which in the future will be able to provide communication even in the most remote areas.
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