Turkey: Exponential Growth of 4.5G Subscribers

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Turkey: Exponential Growth of 4.5G Subscribers

  • Challenges

As Turkey's economy steams ahead and its digital life expands, its mobile users are calling for more digital services and mobile social networking applications. However, the limited bandwidth and current network capacity seriously limit user experience and dampen consumption desires. Carrier growth plans have stalled, and they are not meeting their business goals.

  • Solution

1.With the help of Huawei, three Turkish operators are now able to construct the 4.5G network using the GigaRadio standard. The network peak rate reaches 1 Gbps, meeting users' need for high-speed delivery of digital contents.

2.The 4.5G network infrastructure allows operators to develop vertical industries, such as NB-IoT and LiTRA, and provide services for the government and businesses.

  • Benefits

Only one week after 4.5G network launch, the number of subscribers rose to 6 million and soared up to 10 million a month later. The higher proportion of 4.5G subscribers delivers more data and greater revenues.

  • Here's an overview of the situation.

  • Customer Needs

The Turkish economy has been growing continuously since 2009, with a strong and fast-growing mobile market. The ever-growing desire and need for social contact pose a challenge to the current mobile broadband service.

There are around 35 million mobile broadband users and 10 million fixed broadband users in Turkey. Before 4.5G was introduced, the average downlink rate in Turkey was 8 Mbps, ranking 77th in the world. Therefore, Turkey's strategic objective was to build a regional ICT hub. On August 26, 2015, Turkey started auctioning its 4.5G spectrum and took the lead in the commercial use of the 4.5G network in Central Asia.

Figure: Turkey 4.5G Industry Summit held on April 1, 2016 in Istanbul.

  • Huawei 4.5G Network Helping Three Turkish Operators Attract 4.5G Subscribers

After acquiring 4.5G license, three Turkish operators started their large-scale construction of the 4.5G network at the end of 2015. They now have over 20,000 4.5G base stations in over 80 cities throughout Turkey, forming the largest commercial 4.5G network in the world. The country thus becomes the first to achieve full coverage of the 4.5G network.

The 4.5G network in Turkey adopts Huawei's new-generation BTS platform GigaRadio that helps to raise the network peak rate to 1 Gbps. 4T4R remote radio units (RRUs), as well as active antenna units (AAUs), are also being introduced to significantly improve spectrum efficiency and network capacity. Featuring high integration, GigaRadio allows site deployment in much smaller space and agile network deployment. In addition to VoLTE and high definition (HD) video service, operators are able to explore vertical industries, such as NB-IoT and LiTRA, and develop home broadband like WTTx that has a similar transmission rate to optical fiber. The highly integrated product and efficient execution make it possible to complete the 4.5G network construction in 81 provinces within 4 months.

On April 1, 2016, all three major operators in Turkey officially announced the launch of the 4.5G network. Only one week later, they successfully attracted 6 million 4.5G subscribers in the country, moving quickly to satisfy users' strong demands for high-speed data transmission. Improved user experience, ambitious data package promotion strategies, and nationwide publicity enabled operators to win a large number of subscribers. Forty days after the launch, over 10 million users had migrated to 4.5G.

The average downlink rate over the Turkish 4.5G network reaches 28 Mbps, 16th in world rankings. The 4.5G network not only connects people but connects things as well. It can provide services for government, business operations, and other vertical industries. The large-scale deployment of 4.5G in Turkey is a crucial step in building a regional ICT hub and is bound to accelerate the application of 4.5G in Central Asia and other parts of the world.

2016 marks the first year for the large-scale commercial use of 4.5G around the world. At present, over 20 operators have launched 4.5G networks for commercial use or have conducted tests on 4.5G technologies. It is estimated that sixty 4.5G commercial networks will be deployed by the end of 2016.

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