Turkish Telecom Sector
Total broadband subscribers reached 91.6 million at the end of the first quarter of 2023. In Türkiye, fixed broadband usage has increased considerably thanks to the leadership of Türk Telekom’s infrastructural investments since 2005. Accordingly, the number of fixed broadband subscribers increased to 19.0 million. Fibre technology (FTTH/FTTB) increased by 20.2% year on year with number of subscribers reaching 6.1 million as of first quarter of 2023. Additionally, the number of xDSL subscribers was 11.0 million and there were also 1.4 million cable internet subscribers at the end of Q1’23. Compared to OECD average of 34.7% fixed broadband population penetration rate, Türkiye has important growth potential with its 22.3% penetration rate.
Investments for fibre optic infrastructure have increased in the country in recent years. Türk Telekom with its 410 thousand kilometre fibre network has the widest fibre infrastructure in Türkiye. Alternative operators’ fibre length was 116 thousand kilometre at the end of Q1’23.
On the mobile broadband side, the total number of users was 72.5 million corresponding to 85.0% population penetration rate at the end of Q1’23. Mobile broadband users via mobile phones reached 71.8 million while mobile broadband users via non-phone mobile devices were 675 thousand. Compared to OECD with average of 128.2% mobile broadband penetration rate, Türkiye has important growth potential in terms of mobile broadband penetration.
The total number of mobile phone subscribers in Türkiye was 90.7 million corresponding to 106.3% penetration rate at the end of Q1’23. Share of prepaid subscribers was 29% in Türkiye in Q1’23, whereas it is around 28% in Europe.
On 26 August 2015, the Auction for IMT Services and Infrastructures Authorisation was held by ICTA. Excluding VAT, total auction fee for 365.4 MHz of spectrum across 18 packages in 5 separate frequency bands (800, 900, 1800, 2100 and 2600 MHz) was EUR 3,356 mn. Following the auction, the current frequency allocated to mobile operators increased from 184 MHz to 549 MHz. Operators launched IMT services as of 1 April 2016. At the end of Q1’23, number of active LTE subscribers in Türkiye reached 66.1 million.
There were 10.9 million fixed voice subscribers corresponding to 12.9% penetration rate in Türkiye at the end of Q1’23. Given the average household size of 3.2, in Türkiye a significant portion of the population uses fixed voice services.