ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkey’s 5G spectrum tender drew a total of $2.95 billion in winning bids on Thursday, with the country’s major operators Turkcell, Vodafone and Turk Telekom securing key blocks across the 700 MHz and 3.5 GHz frequency ranges.
Turkcell placed the highest bid of $429 million for the A1 package in the 700 MHz band and won four blocks in the 3.5 GHz range. Its winning bids totalled $1.22 billion.
Turk Telekom secured the A3 package for $425 million and two blocks in the 3.5 GHz range. Its winning bids amounted to $1.1 billion.
Vodafone won the A2 package for $426 million and won a single 3.5 GHz block. Its winning bids totalled $627 million.
The rollout of 5G services is expected to start in April next year, primarily in major cities.
The tender distributed not only 5G frequencies but also extended the usage rights of previous-generation network frequencies until the end of 2042.
Turk Telekom, Turkcell and Vodafone were participating in the tender for 5G frequencies with the minimum fee for all packages set at $2.13 billion, excluding VAT.
The tender was selling frequencies in the 700 MHz band in three blocks and in the 3.5 GHz band in eight blocks.
The operators did not release estimates on network investment ahead of the tender, but analysts expect them to embark on a multi-year, multi-billion dollar process to upgrade their networks to 5G.
The previous mobile frequency auction before 5G was held in 2015. Three operators paid 4 billion euros ($4.66 billion), including VAT, for the 4.5G for approximately 15 years.
Thursday’s tender also extended the authorisation period for 2G and 3G services, which were to expire in 2029, until the end of 2042. Companies will pay 5% of their annual sales from these services to the Treasury.
Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said on Wednesday that the first 5G signal will be launched on April 1 and that it will gradually expand nationwide, starting with densely populated cities. He said it could take a little over a year for coverage to expand nationwide.
($1 = 0.8581 euros)
(Reporting by Can Sezer; Writing by Daren Butler and Ezgi Erkoyun; Editing by Susan Fenton)
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