Especially during the pandemic period, internet use has increased with the spread of working from home and distance education models. For this reason, the speed of the internet has become even more important. While there have been criticisms that the internet speed in Turkey is slow recently, the answer to these criticisms came from the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Adil Karaismailoglu.
Responding to a parliamentary question from an opposition lawmaker, Karaismailoglu said, “According to a study conducted by GSMA in 2020 for 170 countries, including Turkey, for mobile broadband, Turkey ranks 20th with 80.6 points in terms of infrastructure, 32nd with 76.2 points in terms of content and services, and 14th in mobile download speed with 90.76 points. According to the Speedtest Global Index October 2021 report, Turkey ranks 55th in the global ranking with a download speed of 31.72 Mbps in mobile broadband and has a download speed of 25.02 Mbps in fixed broadband. Karaismailoglu stated that the average speed of the fixed internet is lower than that of mobile, not due to infrastructure, but due to the preference of medium speed internet packages more.
MOBILE INTERNET USE INCREASED BY 188%
In his reply, Karaismailoglu pointed out that internet usage has increased recently and said, “However, the use of fixed internet has increased by approximately 216% in the last three years, while mobile internet use has increased by 188%. Internet services are maintained without any problems, including the pandemic period.”
FIBER SUBSCRIBER NUMBER EXCEEDED 4.3 MILLION
Explaining that electronic communication operators have invested heavily in Turkey, Minister Karaismailoglu said, “The total investment amount in the last five years is ₺54.5 billion. The amount of investments in 2020 has increased by 30% compared to the previous year. The number of fiber subscribers has exceeded 4.3 million and the rate of increase in one year has reached 23%. Among OECD countries, our country ranks first in fixed broadband subscriber growth rate. The number of 4.5G subscribers has reached 78.5 million.
Source: Sabah / Translated by Irem Yildiz
