Monday, 18 April 2022
North Cyprus is in the Stone Age when it comes to broadband speeds and is among one of the few countries still using 3G technology, Yeniduzen reports.
Some of the countries still using 3G internet in the world are the TRNC, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Mobile Broadband Speeds (Average) Cyprus, south: 70 Mbps Cyprus, north: 3 Mbps Europe: 55 Mbps Turkey: 32 Mbps. Fixed Broadband Speeds (Average) Cyprus, south: 32 Mbps, Cyprus, north: 15 Mbps, Europe: 80 Mbps, Turkey: 28 Mbps.
According to GSMA data only 8 percent of the world still uses 3G technology.
Electronics Engineer and former Ericsson Manager Dağhan Fellahoğlu, is very clear about what he believes are the issues. He says that the Information Technology and Communications Authority (BTHK) has deliberately dragged its heels over installing new infrastructure including fibre technology, to enable the use of 4/5G broadband in North Cyprus. He stated the following:
“For me, the biggest obstacle to the transition to 4G technology is BTHK. BTHK is at the forefront of the stakeholders and it can’t organise and handle this. I think there is no infrastructure problem, this is the excuse of the business. The use of 3G has been abandoned in many different countries, but it is still not done in our country. The biggest reason for this is the fees requested from the operators and BTHK’s agenda is powerful. For example, BTHK is trying to implement technologies that are not common in the world, such as 60 GHz, instead of giving priority to fibre infrastructure. That’s why I think the lack of fibre infrastructure is a complete excuse. BTHK fails to show leadership and does not see that this issue is so vital.
“It is only an intermediate solution for 60 ghz fast internet, but it is an unknown technology and is not used in almost any country. There are also health hazards. Instead, 4/5G should have been prioritised. All countries announced when they will stop using 3G, we are still here. We announced and used 3G before Turkey, now Turkey has started 5G trials, we are still trying to get away from 3G. I think the main problem is the head of BTHK. He’s been there for years and can no longer run this new technology. He needs to go from there and leave this place to others. Nothing happens without a change in blood”.
Turkcell
Deputy General Manager for Turkcell – North Cyprus, Ali Gürler said this: “New technologies are needed to ease the increasing mobile traffic. In order to provide 4/5G service, first of all, a frequency and technology independent licence tender is required. In addition, arrangements should be made for GSM operators to create the transmission infrastructure between their base stations for the fibre infrastructure required by new technologies.
“Regardless of the increase in subscribers, the traffic in mobile networks increases by 35-40 percent on average every year due to the increase in the videos we watch, the files/applications we download, and the digital transformation of life. Since 3G technology cannot offer the technology to meet this increasing traffic, 4G-4.5G-5G technologies have been adopted in the world. Just like other countries in the world, new technologies (4G, 4.5G and 5G) are needed to meet the increasing mobile traffic in the north of Cyprus.In order for new technologies to be put into service with standard criteria, fibre infrastructure is required.
“Kuzey Kıbrıs Turkcell has demonstrated that it was always willing to invest in new technologies and infrastructure by making 4G trials before Turkey in 2014.
“The 60 GHz frequency band is a distance dependent frequency and towers have to be set up at very frequent intervals at short distances (approximately 500 m). The frequency band, which was put into use at 60 GHz, is not in the form of frequency bands allocated to operators as in mobile networks, but has been made available to general use by internet service providers without any allocation. In this state, the provision of service quality may also be limited. Since this frequency has a limited area of use, it should not be considered as an alternative to fibre, 4.5G or 5G technologies accepted in the world standards in order to meet the internet needs of subscribers, but as a transition system until these technologies come to the country.
“ 60 GHz investments will become obsolete when fibre optic infrastructures become widespread. It should not be an obstacle to fibre investments, which are a permanent solution. The entire telecommunication sector should focus on accelerating fibre investments, and the resources of the whole society should be used efficiently, so that the investments to be made in foreign currency for 60 GHz, which will be made temporarily and turn into idle status, are not wasted. Considering the above mentioned technical constraints of 60 GHz, it will offer very limited usage possibilities”.
