Russia’s Telecommunications Ministry said late Monday that it has decided on the spectrum to be allocated for 3G services and will announce a tender within the next 45 days.

The ministry will assign spectrum in the frequency bands 1935-1980MHz, 2010-2025MHz and 2125-2170MHz, with each license valid for the deployment of IMT-2000 UMTS standard mobile networks.

It is reported that either three or four licenses will be issued, which means it is likely that the country’s three main operators, Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), VimpelCom and MegaFon will receive licenses.

Because the Defence Ministry currently occupies spectrum in these bands, the operators will have to co-ordinate their rollout of 3G with the respective law enforcement agencies and defence bodies in each region. The Defence Ministry reportedly has priority to use the spectrum in each region.