The tender will open up 11 frequency packages across the 700 MHz and 3.5 GHz band
Turkey has formally set the stage for its 5G rollout after a presidential decree confirming the reserve prices and spectrum packages was published in the Resmî Gazete on 16 August 2025. The decision, signed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, establishes the legal framework for the auction, which will be conducted by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK). The publication brings legal clarity to the process and specifies the frequency bands that will be tendered later this year.
According to the decree, a total of 11 frequency packages will be put on offer with a combined minimum value of $2.125 billion, excluding VAT. The most valuable band is the 700 MHz spectrum, where three blocks of 2×10 MHz have been priced at $425 million each. In the 3.5 GHz band, three packages of 1×80 MHz will be offered at a minimum of $200 million each, while a further five 1×20 MHz blocks carry a reserve price of $50 million apiece. Together, the allocations represent around 400 MHz of capacity.
The decree also sets out payment and regulatory conditions. Winning operators will be required to pay their licence fees in three equal instalments. Penalties will be applied for delayed or partial payments, calculated at twice the prevailing annual interest rate of 7.93%. If a payment is overdue by more than 30 days, BTK is authorised to consider revoking the licence.
The framework also anticipates the period beyond 2029, requiring operators that wish to retain their existing 2G, 3G and 4G frequencies and numbering resources to pay 5% of their annual gross revenues to BTK. A performance guarantee is to be lodged at the same time, calculated as 14 times 6% of that 5% payment for the year 2029.
Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu has confirmed that the tender specifications will be published in the coming weeks, with the auction itself scheduled for October 2025. “We aim to publish the tender specifications this month and hold the tender in October,” he told reporters, according to Reuters.
He added that Turkey expects the first 5G services to go live in 2026, starting in major cities and then expanding to the rest of the country. “Our goal is to expand 5G across the entire country within a few years after the initial signal is received in 2026,” he said.
Ready to go
The announcement marks an interesting milestone for the Turkish telecoms sector, which has been awaiting regulatory clarity on 5G spectrum after years of preparation. The three incumbent operators – Turkcell, Vodafone Turkey and Türk Telekom – are expected to participate actively in the auction, with their bids shaping the next phase of competition and infrastructure investment.
The pricing structure demonstrates Ankara’s determination to extract significant value from the spectrum, while the staged payment terms are designed to allow operators to spread costs over time. At the same time, the retention fees for legacy technologies underscore the regulator’s intent to push the market decisively towards 5G while managing a gradual sunset of earlier generations.
For Turkey, the auction will not only fund the treasury but also set the technical and financial conditions for a long-term migration to more advanced mobile services. While the operators haven’t seemed to have responded publicly to the decree, Vodafone’s CEO Engin Aksoy has publicly stated that the operator is more than ready for 5G on several occasions in the local press – even 5.5G.
