Tele2 Russia is a telecommunications company that has been operating in Russia since 2003. Originally founded by Swedish Tele2, it is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Rostelecom as of 2020. The company's operations began in Russia in the early 2000s, with Tele2 providing services in 12 regions within its first two years. In 2013, the Swedish group Tele2 sold its Russian subsidiary to the VTB Group, which later sold 50% of Tele2 Russia shares to a consortium of private investors and 5% to Sogaz insurance group. In 2014, Rostelecom and Tele2 Russia integrated their mobile assets into a joint venture (JV) T2 Rus Holding, which owns all the operating companies of Tele2 Russia. This resulted in the creation of a new national mobile operator with a wide range of licenses and frequencies. Rostelecom became a joint venturer with a share in the authorised capital of 45% in votes and 26% of economic share. In 2020, Rostelecom entered into a legally binding agreement to purchase 55% of T2 RTK Holding shares, consolidating 100% of the shares by March 2020. The parent structure of the company is named Limited Liability Company "T2 RTK Holding" with headquarters in Moscow.
3G Network
2G GSM services are provided over the 900 and 1800 MHz bands. Following the merger with Rostelecom, Tele2 integrated 3G UMTS (HSPA+) services into its network via its Baikalwestcom CJS subsidiary. 3G services were fully launched in November 2014 across the remainder of its network, including DC-HSPA+ data services.
3G Frequency Bands
| Network Frequency Band | Status |
|---|---|
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Active
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3G Network Events
| Date | Event | Subtype |
|---|---|---|
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Launch of 3G Network
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Launch
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4G Network
Tele2 Russia commercially launched B3 (1800 MHz) LTE in December 2014 in Tula and settlements of the Leninsky district, Shchekin, Novomoskovsk, knots, Don, North Zadonsk, Sokolniki and Aleksinon. Rollouts in most major cities began throughout 2015. Further LTE networks have been launched on B7 (2600 MHz) and B20 (800 MHz), with smaller LTE TDD deployments over B40 (2300 MHz) primarily in Krasnodar and Sochi districts.
The company commercially launched B31 (450 MHz) LTE under the SkyLink banner in May 2016, initially in regional areas and gradually expanding to cover St. Petersburg and Moscow within the same year.
Tele2 has launched a number of LTE-Advanced services, including demonstrating inter-site 2C carrier aggregation between two neighbouring cell towers using both B7 and B20 frequency bands.
In November 2018 Tele2 conducted NB-IoT testing in partnership with Ericsson. A pilot program was launched in late 2018 and expanded in April 2019 to cover utilities providers in Moscow.
4G Frequency Bands
| Network Frequency Band | Max. Channel Bandwidth | Status | Known EARFCNs |
|---|---|---|---|
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10
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Active
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100
|
|
|
15
|
Active
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1275
|
|
|
10
|
Active
|
3400
|
|
|
15
|
Active
|
6200
|
|
|
5
|
Active
|
||
|
20
|
Active
|
38750
|
4G Network Events
| Date | Event | Subtype |
|---|---|---|
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Launch of 4G Network
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Launch
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5G Network
The company has demonstrated 5G technologies in conjunction with its development partner Nokia, including the use of 4.5 GHz spectrum and 8x8 MIMO. In February 2019 the company announced it had partnered with Ericsson for a 5G-ready network modernisation program which would see upgrades to 50,000 towers over a five year period. Much of the company's 5G testing has been conducted by its major shareholder Rostelecom.
Tele2 launched its first 5G pilot zone in August 2019 in central Moscow. The 28 GHz NSA mmWave network, understood to be using the European n258 (26 GHz) band, has boasted peak data speeds up to 2.1 Gbps and minimum latency of 9 ms. As a NSA deployment the network is anchored to the B7 (2600 MHz) LTE band. The 5G zone was constructed in partnership with Ericsson.
5G Frequency Bands
5G Network Events
| Date | Event | Subtype |
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