The documentation indicates that the equipment was imported into the country “for testing”
Publishing «Kommersant» reports that 5G cellular base stations from China were imported to Russia. As follows from the declaration in the Russian Accreditation database, the stations were delivered to Russia for testing. The declaration states that it applies to mass-produced products — 5G base stations and integrated 5G base stations of two models. One of them — station of the American BTI Wireless, which can operate in the n79 frequency range (4.4–5 GHz).
Experts note that there are few models on the market that operate in the n79 band, and most likely this equipment is intended for pilot zones of telecom operators. In March, the State Commission for Radio Frequencies identified 5G pilot zones, testing should be carried out by a joint venture of VimpelCom, MegaFon, MTS and Rostelecom. Tests must be carried out in the frequency band 4.63–4.99 GHz on domestic equipment, but such devices will go into production only towards the end of the year.
It is possible that Russian operators decided to use foreign equipment for test zones in order to quickly obtain the results of experiments on the use of spectrum. Another interlocutor of the publication believes that base stations brought from China are needed to launch a private 5G network at any enterprise. Now the demand for such solutions is growing, experts say, but usually 4G networks are sufficient for such tasks.