Russia has dropped out of the top hundred countries with the fastest mobile Internet — it has moved from 99th to 102nd place in the Ookla rating. The American company's findings are almost complimentary for Russian communications providers — the report shows that access speed in the Russian Federation has not only not decreased, but has even increased slightly, market participants and experts interviewed by Izvestia note. Despite the sanctions pressure and the cessation of equipment supplies, operators have managed to maintain the quality of communication. However, further growth in access speed and improvement of positions in world ratings is possible only due to the introduction of 5G in the Russian Federation, expansion of the frequency spectrum for 4G and the start of mass production of domestic network equipment, experts add.
In November, the Russian estonia whatsapp number database Federation moved from 99th to 102nd place in the ranking of countries with the fastest mobile Internet. It is compiled by the largest international Internet speed meter around the world, Ookla. The company collects information about access parameters around the world using the Speedtest application.
Back in October, Russia was ranked 99th, and in November 2022, it was ranked 88th. According to the rating, Russia "let" Uzbekistan (99th place), Indonesia (100th), and Tunisia (101st) ahead. The first three places were taken by the UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait. The gap between Russia and the leader in median access speed is 13.5 times: if in the UAE in November it was almost 325 Mbps, then in Russia it was just under 24 Mbps, Ookla reports.
Overall, worldwide, mobile internet speed increased by 43% in November 2023 compared to the same period last year, the authors of the rating calculated. The average speed for data transfer from a subscriber is 11 Mbit/s — 18.5% higher than in November 2022.
Despite such results, Ookla's rating is almost complementary for Russian communications providers, according to telecommunications experts interviewed by Izvestia. Despite sanctions and the lack of supplies (at least official ones) of network equipment, operators managed to increase the average download speed via mobile Internet by 10%, and the speed of data transfer from the subscriber also increased slightly, they note. The ping value (i.e. delays in the transfer of packets with information) has remained virtually unchanged over the year.
— The rating data does not at all indicate the degradation of cellular communications in Russia. The growth of speed in individual countries and in the world as a whole is a consequence of the mass introduction of 5G in the global market. Access in fifth-generation networks, which are currently not working in the Russian Federation, is by definition faster than in 4G, LTE. That is, in our country, the speed is growing more slowly than in others, — one of the specialists in cellular network design explained the situation.
To return to the top hundred, it is necessary to open new frequency bands below 5 GHz with a channel width of 80-100 MHz per operator and provide equipment for them, noted a source of Izvestia in the telecommunications industry. At the same time, maintaining existing speeds in Russia will require more and more densification of LTE networks in large cities and refarming of older generations of cellular communications in smaller ones (in large cities, this potential has already been used), he added. The question is how long and on what equipment it will be possible to densify LTE networks, as well as how much it will cost to operate such denser networks, he added.