4.5G technology to face three shortcomings

4.5G will be launched in Turkey on April 1, but there are three main areas in which the technology is problematic in Turkey, according to sector representatives: Base stations, fiber networks and smartphones. 

Telecommunications companies have been having a nightmare since the Constitutional Court annulled an article in the Telecom Law in 2009. The court overruled Article 35/a, which states that mobile network equipment is exempted from the Construction Law, ruling that this article should be in the Construction Law instead of the Telecom Law. However, the government has not added the article to the Construction Law until today, allowing some municipalities to take advantage of it. These municipalities, including ?zmit, Karasu and Bak?rköy, regard base stations on buildings as separate structures and demand a construction permit. 

Operators claim that fees demanded for construction permits amount to millions. In short, there either needs to be a change in the Construction Law or necessary regulation needs to be introduced to ensure reasonable rent fees for municipalities.

The driving force of 4.5G is fiber networks. Turkey is experiencing a serious problem with fiber networks, according to several companies in the sector. Telecom companies are also having difficulties when attempting to make new investments with permits, fees and the like. Besides the cost of laying new fiber cables, the bureaucracy is a real headache. Turkey has 250,000 kilometers of fiber networks. But we need regulations on fiber before mobilization as recently mentioned by Transportation Minister Binali Y?ld?r?m to increase efficiency in 4.5G and the total length to 500,000 kilometers. 

On the sharing of fiber, Türk Telekom has a dominant position in fiber with...