Turkey sets 4G auction price at €2.3 bln total

ANKARA

 The Turkish telecommunications regulator has announced the minimum price of €2.3 billion ($2.44 billion) that mobile operators must pay to secure frequency bands for the new 4G network. 

Mobile phones operate on specific frequencies, which are auctioned to eligible companies by the regulator. As the current 3G, or third generation network in Turkey is upgraded to 4G. or fourth generation -- adding speed and strength to data use -- mobile operators must bid for the right to use specific frequency bands. The 4G network is to launch at the end of this year, according to the Turkish telecommunications ministry.

Successful bidders will be allowed to pay the full price at once or with four equal installments over six months, plus interest, according to the Turkish cabinet decision announced in the official gazette on Wednesday. 

Bidders will compete for frequencies from 800 megahertz to 2600 megahertz in a total of 20 segment bands starting in May 2015. 

Turkey's communication regulator, the Information and Communication Technologies Authority, will tender for 800, 900, 1800, 2100 and 2600 megahertz  bandwidths, providing consumers with "at least 10 times higher speed." 

For the 2600 megahertz bandwidth, a new operator will be able to bid at the auction.

Turkish telecommunications minister Lutfi Elvan said that mobile Internet traffic has increased by 123 percent in 2014, and that a 10 percent increase in bandwidth penetration by 4G technology would lead to an increase of one percent in the country's GDP growth and boost employment.

The latest data by the Information and Communications Technology Authority shows that 3G subscriptions increased 41.4 percent to 31.1 million in the third quarter of 2014 from the same period in the previous year.

 Minimum price for each frequency at auction