Mobile network supplier Ericsson said it has supported Tele2 in upgrading the mobile operator’s telecom infrastructure with 25,000 5G-ready base stations across Russia in 18 months.

The update, which covers all 27 regions of Russia, has increased capacity and enhanced network performance by a factor of 1.7, Ericsson said.

“We deployed a pilot 5G network in Russia’s capital, and together with Ericsson, we are carrying out a large-scale network modernization across the country. This allows us to say that Tele2 is technologically ready for 5G,” Aleksey Telkov, CTO of Tele2 Russia, said in a statement.

The installation and launch of Ericsson’s base stations on Tele2’s network has also marked the completion of 50 percent of the five-year network modernization deal reached during MWC 2019 in Barcelona.

“As all our network equipment in Russia supports an upgrade to 5G technologies through remote software installation, operators in Russia are able to launch new services as soon as they get the appropriate licenses,” Sebastian Tolstoy, head of Ericsson in Russia, said.