Across the year, mobile speeds showed a split picture in Russia. In Moscow, speeds rose, while in regional areas they fell to 18.7 Mbit/s. Analysts point to varying investment levels by operators, ongoing equipment shortages, and surging Internet traffic as the main drivers of this divergence, a trend noted by the news outlet Izvestia originally reporting the findings.
New measurements from TelecomDaily indicate that Moscow saw its average mobile Internet speed climb from 51 Mbit/s to 63.2 Mbit/s, whereas regional speeds slipped from 20 Mbit/s to 18.7 Mbit/s over the same period.
According to TelecomDaily, the speed gains in Moscow reflect heavy investment in the capital, which competes intensely to deliver high quality connectivity. The city hosts the nation’s largest market and concentrates federal agencies and large businesses, making fast, reliable communications a practical necessity and a competitive advantage for operators.
In contrast, regional markets face a different reality. Data from the Ministry of Digital Development shows mobile Internet traffic in Russia rising by 16 percent in the first half of 2023, reaching 19.6 billion GB. However, industry reports suggest that sanctions-induced equipment shortages hinder the ability of operators to meet this growing demand, contributing to slower regional speeds.
The Ministry of Digital Development maintains that overall mobile Internet speeds remain stable, while acknowledging that the capital consistently advances ahead of the regions in network performance due to market dynamics and scale.
Earlier updates note that the Siri voice assistant began to understand Russian language offline, marking a step in artificial intelligence and language processing that does not require a live data connection to function in Russian environments, reflecting broader trends in on-device AI capabilities.