The St. Petersburg Times reports that you can't give Wi-Fi away in Russia: The article notes that a firm that planned to charge for Wi-Fi now offers it for free, and even then isn't seeing a reasonable amount of usage. The article also tracks the expansion of Wi-Fi into offices.
One large factor: although licenses aren't sold off exclusively, as with cellular operators worldwide, users must obtain licenses to deploy base stations of any kind. They hope to move to a fully unlicensed model at some point, but it doesn't sound soon.
The nearby country of Estonia has nearly 250 access points, half of which are free, in large contrast to Russia's barren Wi-Fi landscape. It's all about how much regulation prevents innovation.