Third-generation mobile networks, pioneered in Japan and South Korea, offer enhanced services including high-speed internet access, music downloads and video e-mail.
Leonid Reiman said, "Issues linked to the issue of 3G licenses are on the agenda. This year [national] 3G licenses will be put to tender."
In June, Reiman said the first licenses to provide 3G mobile communications services in Russia would be issued before the end of 2006, and that a tender would be announced at the end of the summer.
The minister said one of criteria for selecting an operator would be network coverage, but that this would not be a key factor as no operator in the country has 100% coverage.
A research firm said on Friday that mobile phone penetration in Russia had reached 98.5% as of the end of July.
