ANKARA
The number of subscribers to Third Generation (3G) mobile telecommunication technology has reached 61.1 million in Turkey, Turkish communications minister announced Saturday.
According to Minister Feridun Bilgin, as of June, the number of cell phone subscribers in Turkey reached 72 million in the second quarter, up from 70.1 million in the first quarter of last year.
The number of broadband Internet subscribers in Turkey has increased by more than six times to reach over 44 million in the second quarter of this year from just six million in 2008.
Turkey's population was 77.7 million in 2014, according to the country's statistics authority.
Also, the fiber optic length in Turkey reached a total of 257,828 kilometers, up from 234,000 kilometers last year, which is more than four times the total length of the country's highways, Bilgin added.
The minister also said that Turkish people were among top most users of mobile communications in Europe.
"The average Turkish user spent 399 minutes on his cell phone each month in the second quarter, up from 367 minutes in first quarter of 2015. With this number, Turkey ranks first among countries in Europe using mobile communication the most," he said.
The total mobile traffic in the second quarter of the year reached 56.4 billion minutes, with landline traffic reaching 2.9 billion minutes.
The quarter figures also showed an increase of 8 percent in mobile traffic and a drop of 1.2 percent in landline traffic compared to the first quarter of the year.
Turkey's three mobile operators, Turkcell, Vodafone and Avea, invested nearly 3.1 billion Turkish liras ($1 billion) in 3G networks in 2014.
Turkey started offering 3G services in July 2009 and now offers high-speed internet via GSM networks, which is global system for mobile networks.
Fourth-generation (4G) telecom services are expected to become operational in Turkey by the first day of 2016, Bilgin had previously said. Last month, Turkey’s three existing mobile operators, Turkcell, Vodafone and Avea, won the rights to the country’s most advanced 4.5G network after paying more than €3.9 billion in a tender held by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK).
