Turkcell accounted for almost half of the €3.36 billion that Turkey raised in its 4G auction this week.
The contest brought in significantly more than the government’s €2.23 billion reserve price, with 18 of the 20 available frequency blocks selling to the country’s big three mobile operators, regulatory body the Information and Communication Technologies Authority, or BTK, confirmed on Thursday.
Between them, Turkcell, Vodafone and Avea snapped up 365.4 MHz of spectrum in the 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2.1 GHz and 2.6 GHz bands. 10 MHz of paired and 5 MHz of unpaired 2.6-GHz spectrum remained unsold.
Another prospective participant NetGSM did not ultimately bid in the auction.
Turkcell committed €1.62 billion to the auction, or 48% of the total raised, for airwaves in all bands. The operator walked away with all three blocks in the 2.1 GHz band, while the other bands were shared between the participants.
Avea spent €954.7 million on frequencies in all bands except for 2.1 GHz, while Vodafone’s bids totalled €778 million.
"With these results, Turkcell customers will be able to match the existing fibre broadband speed experience while using mobile Internet and services," said Turkcell CEO Kaan Terzioglu.
"Turkcell will be the only operator which can provide [a] mobile Internet experience at up to 375 Mbps and we are excited to be able to offer this privilege to our customers," he ad ded.
Vodafone, meanwhile, said the new frequencies will enable it to boost the speed, coverage and capacity of its mobile data services.
"The overall quantity of spectrum bought will allow Vodafone Turkey to offer enhanced 4G+ data speeds using LTE Advanced technology," the operator said, in a statement.
Pending various state approvals, the winners will be able to use their new spectrum from 1 April 2016, the BTK said. The licences will be valid until 30 April 2029.
