Turkcell hits 10M 5G users

Turkcell said its 5G campaign has reached 10 million users just two weeks after Turkey began phased commercial 5G service on April 1. (markets.businessinsider.com) (turkishminute.com) The operator launched the ad campaign on March 31 and rolled it out with basketball star Shaquille O’Neal as the face of the push. Turkcell said the campaign was built to showcase 5G speed, capacity and coverage as Turkey entered the commercial 5G era. (markets.businessinsider.com) (dailysabah.com) Fifth-generation mobile service is the next step after fourth-generation networks: it moves more data at once, cuts delay, and lets many more devices stay connected in the same area. Turkish officials said the national rollout will expand in stages across all 81 provinces over the next two years rather than arrive everywhere at once. (turkishminute.com) Turkey reached this point after an October 2025 spectrum auction that sold all 11 packages for about $2.95 billion before value-added tax. The licenses covered 700 megahertz and 3.5 gigahertz airwaves and run through December 31, 2042. (turkishminute.com) (spectrum-tracker.com) The timing matters for Turkcell because the company has been telling investors it is funding a new round of network spending tied to 5G and newer communications systems. On March 10, Turkcell said it had secured a syndicated financing package to support 5G and next-generation technology investments. (medya.turkcell.com.tr) (morningstar.com) Turkcell is also lining up suppliers for the next phase. Ericsson said on March 4 that Turkcell had signed a 5G radio access network rollout agreement and a memorandum covering cloud-based network software, automation tools and lower-power device connections for sensors, cameras and wearables. (ericsson.com) That supplier agreement points to the business Turkcell is chasing beyond faster phone downloads. Ericsson and Turkcell said the planned uses include industrial internet-of-things links, augmented and virtual reality services, and automated network management powered by artificial intelligence software. (ericsson.com) Turkey’s 5G launch also ends a long delay. Officials said the country had stayed on its 4.5G network while regulators worked through bidding and licensing, leaving Turkcell, Türk Telekom and Vodafone Turkey to start commercial 5G later than many European markets. (turkishminute.com) (vodafone.com) For now, Turkcell is using a consumer ad blitz to mark that shift. The company’s message is that the first wave is about visible mobile speed, while the next wave is about turning that new network into a platform for factories, sensors and connected devices. (markets.businessinsider.com) (ericsson.com)