Operators to offer free internet on mobiles during Ramadan
ANKARA
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Turkey’s mobile telephone users will enjoy 1-gigabyte data of free internet during the holy month of Ramadan, the country’s transport and infrastructure minister has announced.
The government has made the necessary arrangement for free internet access with the mobile phone operators, Adil Karaismailoğlu said.
The authorities have taken this initiative after the internet usage has spiked amid the coronavirus outbreak. People surf more on the internet, watch movies, read newspapers and do shopping as they spend more time at home.
“Our citizens use the internet following the measures introduced designed to curb the spread of COVID-19. We asked for support from GSM operators on behalf of our citizens so that the internet usage won’t bring extra burden on people’s shoulders,” Karaismailoğlu said.
As part of the deal with the mobile service providers, some 81 million mobile phone subscribers will benefit from the free internet scheme, the minister added.
Technology-savvy Turks have been widely using the fixed line internet and the internet-based applications on smartphones amid the coronavirus outbreak for placing orders on online stores for essential goods, such as food, or for spending time at home during lockdown or self-isolation.
The mobile phone penetration rate in Turkey stood at 101 percent at the end of third quarter of 2019, according to data from the country’s telecommunications authority. The number of 4.5G service users was more than 76 million.
The number of smartphone wideband internet subscribers stood at 63 million while total mobile internet usage amounted to 1.2 million terabytes.
