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Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu has announced that Türkiye's three major mobile operators are on track to launch 5G services nationwide, with coverage reaching all 81 provincial centers by April 1.
"On January 2, we issued authorization documents defining the rights and obligations of operators. As of April 1, we will offer 5G to citizens in all 81 provincial centers across the country," Uraloglu told an Anadolu Agency reporter. "Life with 5G will begin in Türkiye in one month."
The new technology will deliver data transfer speeds of up to 20 gigabits per second, roughly ten times faster than the current 4.5G network, with significantly lower latency. Uraloglu said that these gains would benefit areas such as remote surgery, autonomous vehicles, real-time applications, and virtual reality, while driving broader transformation across healthcare, education, logistics, and manufacturing.
The 5G authorization tender held on October 16, 2025, generated $3.534 billion in revenue, which Uraloglu described as firmly establishing the financial and institutional groundwork for the transition.
On the domestic technology front, the government launched an R&D support program in January 2023. Contracts were signed with 14 companies in October that year. Total R&D support disbursed has reached 162,135,610 Turkish lira, of which 39,774,328 lira was paid out in 2025. Eight of the 14 projects have been completed; the remaining six are expected to finish by the end of the year.
Turkcell, Turk Telekom, and Vodafone have all acquired 5G frequency packages and are currently upgrading their base stations and infrastructure accordingly.
Türkiye's 5G framework introduces stricter requirements for domestically manufactured equipment than its 4.5G predecessor. In the first year, operators must source at least 50 percent of infrastructure from certified domestic products, rising to 60 percent in subsequent years, with a minimum of 5 percent coming from national communications products. Under 4.5G, the domestic content requirement started at 30 percent and was later raised to 45 percent.
"5G will offer a significant advantage over 4.5G, not only by increasing mobile communication speeds tenfold, but also by setting higher targets for the use of domestic products," Uraloglu said.
The minister added that the government aims to extend full 5G coverage to every part of Türkiye within two years.
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