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Türkiye will hold its long-awaited 5G spectrum auction on October 16, paving the way for commercial services to launch on April 1, 2026, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu announced on Sunday.
According to the minister, the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) published the official tender notice in the Official Gazette on Sunday, paving the way for the country’s rollout of next-generation mobile networks.
The auction will allocate a total of 400 megahertz (MHz) of spectrum across the 700 MHz and 3.5 gigahertz (GHz) bands, with a minimum valuation set at $2.125 billion.
Eleven different frequency packages will be distributed to operators, who will compete to secure the most suitable spectrum blocks for their strategies.
Only operators already licensed in Türkiye for GSM, IMT-2000/UMTS, and IMT services are eligible to participate.
Operators will be required to pay for their spectrum in three equal installments, with the tender documentation priced at ₺1 million ($24,308).
The new licenses will remain valid until Dec. 31, 2042. From April 30, 2029, operators will be obliged to pay 5% of their annual revenues to BTK.
Current mobile authorizations will expire on the same date, after which all services will be covered by the new licensing regime.
Operators may submit their offers starting October 9, with the final deadline set for October 16 at 09:30 a.m. local time (GMT+3). The auction itself will begin the same day at 10:30 a.m. at BTK’s headquarters in Ankara.
Minister Uraloglu emphasized that 5G will deliver major improvements in connectivity.
"With the new phase, our mobile internet speed will increase at least tenfold," he said, adding that the technology will also enable machine-to-machine communication that could transform industrial production processes.
To strengthen the domestic industry, the government is introducing mandatory thresholds for local technology use.
At least 60% of products used in the 5G infrastructure must be locally produced, while 30% must qualify as nationally developed communication products.
Officials expect this requirement to reduce reliance on foreign technology and support domestic manufacturing.
By the end of 2025, infrastructure preparations and licensing arrangements are expected to be finalized to ensure that services can launch in 2026.
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