TELECOMMUNICATIONS IN TÜRKİYE

23 October 1840: The foundation of today's Türk Telekom was laid by Sultan Abdülmecit under the name Postahane-i Amirane.

9 August 1847: Following the successful completion of the first telegraph send-and-receive operation, the laying of the first telegraph line between İstanbul and Edirne began.

July 1881: A single-wire telephone line was run between the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs building at İstanbul Soğukçeşme and the post office at Yeni Cami.

3 May 1909: The first manual telephone exchange, with 50 lines, was installed in the İstanbul Grand Post Office building.

4 February 1924: With Law No. 406 on Telephony and Telegraphy, the duty of installing and operating telephones throughout the country was given to the General Directorate of the PTT.

11 September 1926: Türkiye's first automatic telephone exchange, with a capacity of 2,000 lines, entered service in Ankara.

1 September 1929: The first single-circuit intercity communication was carried out between Ankara and İstanbul.

1940: Two single-channel open-wire carrier systems installed between Ankara and İstanbul brought great improvements to communications compared with the past.

November 1973: The first automatic telex exchange was established.

6 April 1976: With the commissioning of the first submarine coaxial cable of 480 channels total between Antalya and Catania, multi-channel international communication was achieved.

23 April 1979: With the commissioning of the first satellite communication earth station, communication was established with 13 countries using the Atlantic-region satellites over INTELSAT.

March 1982: Payphones open to intercity and international calls began to be installed.

28 June 1984: An electronic mail service began to be offered between the provinces of Ankara, İstanbul, İzmir and Adana.

18 December 1984: Türkiye's first digital telephone exchange entered service in Ankara Kavaklıdere.

10 April 1985: Fiber-optic cable, which increases channel capacity in communications, was laid underground for the first time between the Ankara (Ulus)-Gölbaşı satellite earth station, and a 140 Mb/s system at a wavelength of 1310 nm entered service.

November 1985: The first digital radio-link system entered service between Ankara and İstanbul.

23 October 1986: Mobile telephony entered service in Ankara and İstanbul, and pagers in Ankara, İstanbul and İzmir.

4 March 1987: For the first time in Europe, video conferencing over a satellite system was carried out in our country.

23 February 1994: Türkiye was introduced to GSM technology. GSM, which knows no borders in communication, began serving its subscribers in Ankara, İstanbul and İzmir for the first time.

11 August 1994: Türkiye's first satellite, TÜRKSAT, was launched into space.

24 April 1995: With the separation of telecommunications and postal services within the PTT, Türk Telekomünikasyon A.Ş. was established.

1996: The Turkish National Internet Infrastructure Network (TURNET) entered service.

1997: The National Academic Network (ULAKNET) project, connecting all universities in Türkiye to one another, was brought to life.

27 April 1998: The GSM license was transferred to Turkcell and Telsim for a term of 25 years.

14 November 2005: The privatization of Türk Telekom was completed, and 55 percent was transferred to the Oger Joint Venture Group.

9 November 2008: Number portability for mobile phones began.

1 April 2016: 4.5G technology, increasing internet speed on mobile devices by a factor of 12, was launched.

20 April 2017: ULAK HABERLEŞME A.Ş. was established.

2020: Turkish GSM operators are ready for 5G.