LTE progress has slowed down in Russia and it appears that comercial LTE will be available only in 2014-2015. According to kommersant, in the near future a government resolution will be issued on approving the use of radio frequency bands in the development of advanced radio technologies in Russia. Russia expects to tender licenses for the LTE services in the second-half of this year.

Scartel (Yota), according to its CEO Denis Sverdlov, plans to deploy LTE as early as the coming year. Yota had a public LTE launch last year but regulator revoked the frequencies. Yota's 152 base stations in Tatarstan continue to stand idle due to lack of any solution.

MegaFon is a general partner of 2014 Olympic Games and intends to deploy LTE in the Krasnodar Territory in late 2012.

Another operator Rostelecom received 2.3-2.4 GHz frequencies in 38 regions as a result of last year's competition. However, the operator can not start construction because of the lack of frequency assignments.

Last month, the State Commission for Radio Frequencies authorized MTS, VimpelCom, MegaFon and Rostelecom to form a consortium to research the LTE frequency spectrum and prepare proposals for conversion, which will be reviewed at a commission meeting in July.