The largest mobile operator in Turkey, Turkcell announced that it completed the first 5G test in the country, achieving download speeds of 24.7 Gbps on the 15 GHz spectrum, the broadest available. The test which was conducted in collaboration with Ericsson at Turkcell’s Kucukyali Plaza in Istanbul was also streamed live on the internet.
Turkcell aims not only to make Turkey into one of the first countries to adopt 5G, but also to develop 5G technologies in Turkey.
It is predicted that by 2020 there will be an average of 500 sensors in each home and that the number of smart devices connected to each other around the world will exceed 25 billion. 5G networks are expected to be among the most important technologies in delivering the high capacities required in such a world.
Leveraging Network Slicing feature, 5G also allows networks to allocate capacity and speed according to the different requirements of each home or even of individual rooms. For example, higher bandwidth can be allocated to a living room in order to allow users to stream 4K television shows over the internet, while the kitchen would be granted the smaller capacity needed to operate a kettle.
Having been working on 5G technologies since 2013, Turkcell said it will also manage 5G field tests to be carried out globally by NGMN in 2017 and 2018.
Gediz Sezgin, SVP of Network Technologies, Turkcell
This test on the 15GHz spectrum is also very significant as it points to the kind of future that awaits us. While we at Turkcell continue to work hard to build one of the world’s strongest 4.5G network, this trial also makes us one of the first companies in the world to test 5G technologies.
Ziya Erdem, CEO, Ericsson Turkey
Turkcell is one of the world’s most active companies in the development of 5G technologies and we at Ericsson have been involved in a strategic partnership with Turkcell in this sphere for around a year and a half. Turkey’s first 5G test, which we conducted today, is a result of this joint effort.
