MTS and "IRTEYA" connected a domestic 5G base station to a commercial LTE network

MTS and the Russian telecommunications equipment developer "IRTEYA" demonstrated for the first time in Russia the operation of a domestic 5G base station in the operator's commercial network. The equipment was connected to the current core of the LTE network and integrated with base stations from other manufacturers in a non-autonomous NSA architecture (Non-Standalone) mode. This was reported by the MTS press service.

The "IRTEYA" base station operates in the 4.9 GHz band at the MTS stand at the site of the International Youth Festival — 2026 in Yekaterinburg. MTS subscribers and festival guests roaming with 5G smartphones supporting the 4.9 GHz band can test mobile Internet speeds of up to 780 Mbit/s at the exhibition site.

The company's message says that in the NSA non—autonomous architecture mode, subscribers can enjoy the main advantage of 5G — high data transfer speeds, and telecom operators can quickly build a 5G network on top of the existing LTE infrastructure.

"An important achievement of the "IRTEY" team is the integration of the domestic 5G base station with LTE base stations from other manufacturers on the operator's live, real network. Without such integration, the launch of domestic 5G base stations in existing networks will be impossible," said Viktor Belov, Vice President for Telecommunications Infrastructure at MTS. According to him, the operator expects to purchase several hundred 5G "IRTEYA" base stations in the 4.9 GHz band in the near future.

Dmitry Lakontsev, CEO of "IRTEY", said that the supply of equipment is planned to gradually increase from one station to dozens and then hundreds of devices in early 2027. According to him, the station in Yekaterinburg is already operating in the MTS commercial network.

On September 11, MTS, along with other "big four" operators, launched 5G networks in 16 Russian cities, including Yekaterinburg. In the city center, subscribers have access to a 4.9 GHz network with speeds up to 1.5 Gbit/s, as well as 5G on current LTE frequencies in the 2100 MHz range.