Russia’s mobile operators have something in common with their US equivalents – unlike most MNOs round the world, they will have limited access to midband spectrum, and the C-band around 3.5 GHz, which is considered ideal for first-wave 5G deployments. This is pushing them to deploy in millimeter wave spectrum, earlier than any business plan would deem ideal, since there are still challenges in terms of device availability, network optimization and equipment cost. But to deliver the promised 5G data rates, capacity is required, so both Russian and US operators have been forced to move up the spectrum at an early stage. The C-band provides high capacity, without the high engineering and propagation challenges of millimeter wave; most MNOs will…