MegaFon, initially known as North-West GSM, is the second largest mobile phone operator and the third largest telecom operator in Russia. The company was registered on June 17, 1993, in Saint Petersburg under the leadership of Alexander Malyshev. The key international investors at the time included Scandinavian companies Sonera, Telia International AB, and Telenor Invest AS. In 2002, the company underwent a name change from North-West GSM to MegaFon, following the acquisition of several regional companies. This rebranding marked the company's expansion to cover all of Russia, making it the first GSM company in the country to achieve this. The ownership of MegaFon has evolved over the years with significant shares being held by various entities. Notably, in June 2010, MegaFon acquired 100% shares of the Synterra company, a move that aimed to enhance the company's network infrastructure and strengthen its position in the markets of long-distance communication, fixed and mobile broadband access to the Internet, and convergence services. As of 2023, MegaFon is part of USM company, owned by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov.
Alias
MegaFon PAO
Country
Russia
Type
Mobile Network Operator
MegaFon logo

3G Network

In October 2007 MegaFon launched 3G UMTS services over the B1 (2100 MHz) and introduced B8 (900 MHz) in January 2012.

Network Frequency Band Status
B1 (2100 MHz)
Active
B8 (900 MHz)
Active
Date Event Subtype
Launch of 3G Network
Launch

4G Network

4G LTE was first offered following the 2010 acquisition of WiMAX operator Synterra after which B38 (2600 MHz) TDD was launched in September 2012. MegaFon initially engaged in an MVNO relationship with Yota in 2012 to leverage its LTE network, until acquiring the firm in 2013. The company has progressively rolled out LTE services to all 83 regions over B3 (1800 MHz), B7 (2600 MHz), and B20 (800 MHz). LTE-A was first announced February 2014, and LTE-A Pro in August 2017 which achieved 979 Mbps using 3C, 4X4 MIMO, and 256QAM.

Massive MIMO trials began in June 2017.

The company completed its NB-IoT trial phase in October 2017, with a commercial launch taking place in June 2018. The network was first deployed in Innopolis, Tatarstan using B8 (900 MHz), and later expanded to include B3 (1800 MHz) and B20 (800 MHz).

4G Frequency Bands
Network Frequency Band Max. Channel Bandwidth Status
B3 (1800 MHz)
20
Active
B7 (2600 MHz)
20
Active
B7 (2600 MHz)
20
Active
B20 (800 MHz)
10
Active
B38 (2600 MHz)
20
Active
Date Event Subtype
Launch of 4G Network
Launch

5G Network

MegaFon in conjunction with Huawei achieved a record breaking 35 Gbps for mobile 5G through the use of 2 GHz of bandwidth in the 70 GHz E-band. In July 2017 the Russian SCRF allocated MegaFon spectrum from 3400 to 3800 MHz for the purposes of testing 5G.

In preparation for the 2018 World Cup, MegaFon acquired local operator Neosprint who held 24 MHz of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band. MegaFon subsequently launched a 5G test network in June 2018 using the newly acquired spectrum.

Date Event Subtype