Number of broadband Internet subscribers hits 59 million in Turkey

The number of broadband Internet subscribers in Turkey has topped 59 million, while the ranks of cellphone subscribers is nearly 75 million, Communications Minister Ahmet Arslan said on Dec. 13.

Arslan told state-run Anadolu Agency that the number of broadband Internet subscribers in Turkey reached 59.1 million in the third quarter of this year, the vast majority - 83 percent - of them being mobile broadband Internet users.        

He also said the number of cellphone subscribers in Turkey had reached 74.5 million, with 61.3 percent of them being advanced fourth-generation (4G or 4.5G in Turkey) users.  
      
Turkey's total population stood at 78.7 million in 2015, according to the country's statistics authority TÜİK.        
"Since going operational on April 1, advanced 4.5G telecom services have been rapidly embraced by consumers, and our people have gotten used to high-speed mobile data. Monthly mobile data use per person rose to 2.2 gigabytes," said Arslan.        

 He also stated that the total revenue of licensed electronic communication services providers rose by 12 percent in the third quarter, compared to the same period in 2015.        

"Over 600 businesses licensed by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority [ICTA] earned 11.6 billion Turkish Liras [$3.7 billion] in revenue in the third quarter of this year. They invested 1.4 billion liras [$460 million] in the same period," Arslan added.        

Three Turkish mobile operators - Turkcell, Vodafone, and Türk Telekom - won the rights to the country's advanced 4.5G network after paying more than 3.9 billion euros ($4.5 billion) in a tender last year.