Turkcell is the most important spender within the Turkish 5G public sale, paying $429 million for the A1 block within the 700MHz band and securing 4 further blocks within the 3.5GHz vary –bringing its complete expenditure to over $1.2 billion
In sum – what to know:
Beats expectations – Turkish authorities raised almost $3 billion, properly above its $2.1 billion goal, marking a key milestone towards 5G rollout in 2026.
High spenders – Turkcell spent over $1.2 billion throughout low- and mid-band frequencies, barely greater than Türk Telekom and Vodafone.
Spectrum phrases – All three operators prolonged rights to next-gen frequencies by 2042, reinforcing long-term capability and stability.
Turkey’s long-awaited 5G spectrum public sale concluded with operators committing near $3 billion, surpassing authorities expectations and setting the stage for business 5G launches in April 2026. Turkcell emerged as the most important spender within the public sale, paying $429 million for the A1 block within the 700MHz band and securing 4 further blocks within the 3.5GHz vary, bringing its complete expenditure to over $1.2 billion.
Rival telco Türk Telekom adopted intently, investing $425 million within the 700MHz band and greater than $600 million for 2 3.5GHz blocks. Vodafone Turkey acquired the A2 bundle and one 3.5GHz block, spending $627 million in complete. In all, 11 frequency packages masking 400 megahertz of spectrum have been bought throughout the 2 bands.
The federal government was initially anticipating to lift $2.1 billion, in response to Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, however the complete proceeds far exceeded that concentrate on.
The operators additionally secured utilization rights for current next-generation frequencies till 2042. Turkey’s final main spectrum public sale occurred in 2015, when 4G frequencies have been awarded to kickstart the nation’s LTE rollout.
To encourage native participation in constructing the brand new 5G infrastructure, the federal government has set situations requiring operators to make use of a portion of domestically produced tools. The coverage goals to cut back reliance on overseas distributors and stimulate Turkey’s know-how sector.
Turkey at the moment has three cellular operators. In accordance with GSMA Intelligence figures for the second quarter of 2025, Turkcell leads the cellular market with 33.4 million connections, adopted by Vodafone Turkey with 25.4 million and Türk Telekom with 22.6 million.
Turkcell goals to enter the 5G period with the supply of 5G-Superior (5G-A) companies, the corporate’s CEO, Ali Taha Koç, beforehand advised RCR Wi-fi Information.
“We proceed our investments to supply the very best high quality web service to our subscribers and 5G know-how is a really excessive precedence amongst our investments. Because of the 5G launch schedule, we have now the chance to begin with 5G-Superior. With 5G-Superior, we are going to present the perfect cellular broadband service to our subscribers whereas additionally advancing the digitalization of the nation,” added Koç.
In the meantime, rival operator Türk Telekom mentioned the telco was prepared from a technical perspective to launch 5G within the nation as soon as the federal government awards the frequencies. Ümit Önal, chief government officer on the agency, emphasised that greater than half of the corporate’s LTE base stations are already fiber-connected, putting it in a powerful place for the rollout of 5G know-how.
