en.Wedoany.com Reported - Russia's four major mobile operators—MTS (Mobile TeleSystems), Beeline (owned by VimpelCom), MegaFon, and T2 Mobile (T2)—plan to completely shut down their 3G networks within the next few years, reallocating spectrum to the LTE standard.
MTS plans to migrate its 3G network (UMTS) to LTE in eight cities—Belgorod, Kazan, Kansk, Krasnoyarsk, Nizhny Tagil, Ryazan, Tynda, and Chita—in June 2026, with mobile internet speeds expected to increase by 15-20% after the migration. By the end of 2026, over 90% of existing 3G sites will be converted to LTE. In 2025, the company had already shut down half of its 3G base stations. Currently, MTS has completed the 3G-to-LTE migration in 203 cities across 41 regions of Russia. Cities that have already achieved accelerated mobile internet include Yekaterinburg, Kaliningrad, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Kurgan, Moscow and the Moscow Region, Novosibirsk, Samara, Saint Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, Saratov, Sochi and the Krasnodar Territory, Tyumen, and Yaroslavl.
Beeline has fully converted its 3G spectrum to 4G in 32 federal subjects of Russia, including Moscow, Saint Petersburg, the Moscow Region, the Leningrad Region, the Krasnodar Territory, and the Republic of Tatarstan; partial conversions have been implemented in certain areas of the Oryol and Rostov regions. A Beeline representative stated that spectrum conversion can increase data transmission speeds by 15-20%, with users reporting more stable video services, faster access to web pages and applications, and improved call quality via VoLTE. The operator plans to completely abandon 3G in 13 regions by the end of 2026, including the Amur Region, Voronezh Region, Saratov Region, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Primorsky Territory, Republic of Dagestan, and the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic. Beeline aims to fully shut down its 3G network nationwide by 2028.
MegaFon completed its nationwide spectrum refarming plan in 2025. A MegaFon representative stated that after refarming, 5 MHz of the 3G band was retained to ensure that users with devices not supporting LTE can still access communication services. Over the next three to five years, the load on the previous-generation network is expected to gradually decrease, and MegaFon will progressively shut down 3G. This aligns with international trends and is related to reduced long-term support for the 3G standard from foreign suppliers, as well as shortages of 3G base stations.
T2 Mobile (T2) is gradually shutting down its 3G network. A T2 representative stated that the company is assessing the feasibility of abandoning 3G networks in various regions of Russia. Currently, T2's service areas still operate 2G, 3G, and 4G technologies simultaneously. Technical teams are conducting spectrum refarming, gradually migrating portions of the spectrum to LTE. As user equipment evolves in each region, UMTS will be completely phased out.
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