On an inaccessible frequency: 5G networks in Moscow launched only nominally
The fifth-generation network in the capital has so far been launched rather nominally — the 5G speed in most locations in Moscow has not exceeded LTE. """" found out this by testing the MTS, " "Beeline", "Megafon" and T2 networks in the center of Moscow, on popular tourist routes and in other places with a large number of users — at train stations, in business centers and transport. In some cases, the 5G speed was even lower than that of LTE. Only in some locations it exceeded 250 Mbit/s, but there were few such points. Where and how 5G works in Moscow — in the "Izvestia" material.
All on Nikolskaya Street
""""Izvestia"" tested the 5G networks that MTS, Beeline, Megafon and T2 launched on September 11, including in Moscow. According to experts, fifth-generation communications deployed by operators on top of LTE networks (for example, at 2600 MHz frequencies) should provide speeds of 200-300 Mbit/s. In addition, MTS has several test zones where 5G operates in the range of 4.6–4.99 GHz (the State Radio Frequency Commission allocated them to telecom operators in August 2026 for the development of 5G). On the coverage map, the operator designates them as "Superfast 5G up to 1.5 Gbps".
""Izvestia"" began measuring the speed of the mobile Internet using the Megabitusapplication on Nikolskaya Street. The first results turned out to be promising: on the MTS 5G network, download speeds reached 284 Mbit/s, and closer to GUM — 1.1 Gbit/s. The operator's test area in the range of 4.6–4.99 GHz was located at this point. "But "5G from T2" showed 136 Mbit/s, and "Beeline" and "Megafon" networks — 50 and 47 Mbit/s, respectively.
On Red Square, the T2 and MTS networks switched to 4G, although, judging by the MTS map, "superfast" Internet should be available there. """"Megafon""s 5G network speed was below 10 Mbit/s, and the Megabitusapplication, when connected to Beeline, recorded a lack of Internet access.
MTS had only a 4G network on Lubyanka Square. "In "Beeline" and "Megafon" 5G T2 networks, the speed was 136, 50 and 47 Mbit/s, respectively.
Transport inaccessibility
Another MTS superfast Internet zone is marked on the map near the Kievsky railway Station, as well as on adjacent streets and embankments. However, it was not possible to find a noticeable advantage over LTE there.: the speed was 57 Mbit/s. "Other" operators also had low performance in the same area: "Megafon" — 41 Mbit/s, "Beeline" — 15 Mbit/s, and T2 worked only on the 4G network.
The speed at Paveletsky railway station was 18-54 Mbit/s, depending on the operator. On Komsomolskaya Square, at three train stations, 5G T2 turned out to be the fastest (78 Mbit/s), while the 4G "MegaFon" speed in the same place was 144 Mbit/s.
""In the area of the "Sportivnaya" metro station and the MCC "Luzhniki", near the Third Transport Ring, the 5G MTS speed ranged from 11 to 57 Mbps. "Beeline" had 53 Mbit/s, while "Megafon" and T2 had only LTE network available.
In the Moscow metro, it was not possible to detect 5G from any operator. "Komsomol" station of the ring line became an exception, where "Beeline" 5G icon appeared on the smartphone screen, and the speed reached 95 Mbit/s. The station is located shallow, so it is possible that the signal came from the surface to the underground lobby.
Business and tourism
In "Moscow" City, the situation has not changed significantly: most operators had speeds of several tens of megabits per second, while "Megafon" had only 4G network available. At the entrance to the business center at T2, the mobile Internet speed reached 146 Mbit/s.
On Vorobyovy Gory, in the area of the main building of Moscow State University and the observation deck, the results were better. MTS had a speed of 210 Mbit/s, "Megafon" — 262 Mbit / s. "Beeline" reached 32 Mbit/s, and T2 worked only on the 4G network.
High 5G speeds were not found in Zamoskvorechye, Sadovoye and Bulvarny Kolts. The "MegaFon" network on Yauzsky Boulevard showed a speed of 413 Mbit/s, however, after a few hundred meters it dropped to the LTE level.
""MegaFon" had a speed of almost 100 Mbit/s at the corner of the Garden Ring and Sakharov Avenue, "Beeline" had 82 Mbit/s, MTS and T2 had less than 10 Mbit/s.
Further from the center, the 5G icon began to appear less frequently, and the speed of all operators did not exceed several tens of megabits per second. However, ""bursts"" of 5G were recorded, for example, at the Sokolniki metro station — the T2 speed increased to 128 Mbit/s.
Why is 5G so unstable?
It is difficult to call such coverage continuous access to high-speed Internet: a relatively fast signal was maintained only in certain areas with a length of several tens to several hundred meters. However, even there, 5G was not always faster than LTE in terms of speed. For comparison, the Moscow metro previously recorded sections where the download speed on the fourth-generation network reached about 300 Mbit/s.
It was not possible to find more or less extensive areas in which 5G would work confidently at high speed. It is enough to take a few steps to the right or left and it returned to the 4G level.
In general, 5G is present in Moscow only nominally so far, not counting individual locations where the speed does exceed 200 Mbps. In addition, not all devices support the fifth-generation network. For example, as "Izvestia" wrote, it cannot be used on the iPhone in Russia — access to this standard is closed in our country by Apple, and it is unlikely that the company will unlock it in the near future.
The main problem is network congestion, says Eldar Murtazin, a leading analyst at Mobile Research Group. Currently, upgraded LTE networks are used for 5G operation in Russia, the expert explained. According to him, the speed of 5G for different operators in the same location may differ due to the fact that their networks are loaded differently, one may have more subscribers connected to the other less.
In the same place, the distance from the base stations of different operators differs — one is closer to the smartphone, the other is further away, added Denis Kuskov, CEO of TelecomDaily. And the closer the subscriber is to the station, the higher the speed. In addition, it is affected by whether there is any obstacle between the base station and the user device.
The high speed of MTS on Nikolskaya (over 1 Gbit/s) is ensured by the use of frequencies in the range of 4.6-4.99 GHz in this place. Technologically, access using them is faster than in 5G, operating on frequencies previously allocated for LTE. However, very few smartphones support 4.6-4.99 GHz.
So far, for operators, at least for private users, the launch of 5G is, in fact, a marketing ploy, Denis Kuskov added. However, for businesses, at the level of individual enterprises, these are already really working technologies, he added.
It's obviously too early to replace an old smartphone with a new one that supports 5G — so far its launch looks exactly like a marketing ploy by operators and a declaration of readiness for a technological breakthrough. Therefore, today nothing prevents us from using the usual LTE devices that work almost everywhere, especially since there are simply no services and applications that would require high speeds.
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