Russia's online giant Yandex (YNDX), often referred to as "the Russian Google," has moved to add mobile phone service provision to many of its other areas of operation. The launch is scheduled for this summer, the Russian business daily Kommersant reported, quoting a source in the local telecoms industry.

Mobile virtual network operator
Unlike Russia's "big four" mobile phone operators - MTS, Megafon, Beeline and T2 - Yandex has decided to build its mobile services without its own infrastructure: it will not build its own masts or base stations. The model Yandex chose is called mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) and requires operating on the infrastructure of one of the main mobile service providers.
This is a very popular model in Russia, and, currently, a number of virtual mobile operators are providing services in the country, mostly operated by major lenders. These include SberMobile, operated by Russia's largest, state-run lender Sber, and T-Mobile, founded by another lender, T-Bank, formerly Tinkoff Bank. Alfa-Bank's MVNO was launched in 2025.
The existing MVNOs normally use the infrastructure of several major operators. For instance, earlier, Kommersant reported that VimpelCom – which operates under the brand name Beeline - had become the third host operator for T-Bank's MVNO, following T2 and MTS. Incidentally, the company plans to capture 25% of the mobile virtual network operator market by 2028, a sector in which it currently holds less than 1%.
According to TelecomDaily, in mid-2025, the most recent data available, the largest virtual operator in Russia was Yota (operating on the Megafon network) with 9.5mn subscribers (45% of the market), followed by T-Mobile, which uses the networks of T2 and MTS, with 4.6mn subscribers (22%), and SberMobile (T2 and Megafon networks, 4 mn subscribers, 19%).
Still, these numbers are significantly lower than those of the "big four." In the second quarter of 2025, the latest data available, MTS, Russia's largest mobile operator, reported 82.9mn subscribers, followed by Megafon, with 78.5mn subscribers.
The existence of virtual operators is quite beneficial to physical operators with their own infrastructure. On the one hand, they create competition. On the other, physical operators earn revenue by providing access to their equipment, and often to their software as well.
Reportedly, Yandex has chosen the Beeline network as the basis for its mobile operations. Still, it aims to use a fairly advanced model, with minimal dependence on Beeline, limited solely to the hardware level.
This involves using only part of Beeline’s infrastructure and the radio access network itself. Yandex will take care of everything else - sales, marketing, customer service, as well as billing and service customisation.

Capitalising on the customer base
At the initial stage, Yandex's mobile operator – which doesn't yet have a name – is likely to limit its activities to just a handful of the country's regions where it has the most promising customer base.
In early March 2026, the Yandex-affiliated legal entity JSC Headwig received a licence to provide telecommunications services, the Telegram channel The Other Side of Telecom reported, adding that the scope of the licence covers only four Russian regions - St Petersburg, Moscow, and the Leningrad and Moscow oblasts.
"These regions are Yandex’s main markets," a source in the Russian telecoms market was quoted as saying by Kommersant.
Yandex has for years been targeting economically active young people in major cities, added Anna Kashnitskaya, founder of the consultancy Unisimka. "It carries significant weight in this audience segment, and there is a strong chance it could capture a substantial share of it," she went on to say. "In other segments, the chances are considerably lower, unless Yandex is prepared to engage in aggressive price dumping."
Yandex's drive to launch its own MVNO may be motivated not only by a desire to enter a new business sector, but also by an intention to rapidly boost its existing operations. The launch of its own MVNO will give Yandex access to a massive volume of big data, Igor Zhilchenko, founder of the Ecomobile telecoms management platform, told Kommersant.
"With its own mobile operator, Yandex could obtain information on users' movements, routes, expenditure, consumption profiles, contacts and other behavioural patterns," he added. "This will enhance the company’s personalisation and advertising capabilities."
Zilchenko estimated Yandex’s initial investment in its own mobile operator at around RUB2bn ($26.2mn), which will cover integration with the host operator, product development, legal support, packaging, promotion and marketing.
"Launching its own MVNO is a logical next step in Yandex’s strategy to build an ecosystem with direct access to users: the operator allows for greater control over the customer experience, reduces dependence on partners, strengthens subscription models and collects additional data for service personalisation," said Svetlana Arkhipkina, Director of the Digital Transformation Practice at the Strategy Partners consultancy.
She added that Yandex will spend a much larger sum, ranging from RUB3bn ($40mn) to RUB6bn ($80mn), which will go towards the launch and the first few years, taking into account IT, marketing and tariff subsidies.
According to Arkhipkina’s calculations, Yandex’s new project will pay for itself within three to five years “provided there is active cross-selling within the ecosystem, aggressive pricing and a focus on niche segments, such as the digital-first audience”. She observed that Yandex will require “significant investment in marketing”, as well as “a unique product offering that goes beyond traditional mobile communications”, if the internet giant wishes to become a major market player and capture more than 5% of the market.

A focus on the local market
Yandex's move into the mobile service is in line with the company's recent refocusing on the Russian market.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Yandex's trajectory has been defined by retreat and refocus. Cut off from key foreign markets and facing sanctions abroad, the company has increasingly turned inward, consolidating its position as Russia’s dominant domestic tech platform. That shift was formalised in early 2024, when Yandex N.V., the Dutch-listed parent company, agreed to sell its Russian business for RUB475bn ($6.3bn) to a consortium led by local management and investors. The deal, which comes as the largest corporate exit from Russia since the invasion of Ukraine, basically split the company into two entities: a Russia-focused Yandex and a separate international business built around founder Arkady Volozh’s new venture, Nebius Group.
The divide reflected both geopolitical realities and strategic necessity. Yandex's international ambitions had already stalled in 2022, when it paused autonomous vehicle testing in the US, shut down delivery services across several countries and exited European markets under regulatory pressure. Eventually, the Russian business retained roughly 95% of the group's value and recently doubled down on its core domestic operations, holding around 70% of the web search market, comfortably ahead of Google.
Today, Russian Yandex operates a broad ecosystem of services tightly integrated into everyday digital life. These include its search engine, the Alice virtual assistant, Yandex Taxi, the Eda food delivery platform and the music streaming service Yandex Music. The company has also maintained a focus on key technology areas such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing and machine learning, though these efforts are now largely oriented toward domestic demand.
Yandex' recent financial results suggest that the pivot has paid off, at least in the short term. The company reported strong unaudited results for 2025, with revenue rising 32% year-over-year to RUB1.44 trillion ($18.6bn), including a 28% increase in the fourth quarter alone. The figures underline how, despite the loss of international markets, Yandex has managed to grow by deepening its presence at home.