Wi-Fi 6E trial in Turkey hailed a success by Türk Telekom

Wi-Fi is vital to the success of Turk Telekom, who claim to have the largest Wi-Fi footprint in the region spanning residential, enterprise and public space applications.

The trial, which was carried out in partnership with Broadcom and Intel under the auspices of the WBA trials program, clearly demonstrated the Wi-Fi 6E real-world performance benefits for consumers, enterprises and municipalities. Such benefits include high bandwidth and low latency wireless applications in on-premise environments.

The greenfield 6GHz spectrum coupled with Wi-Fi 6 (Wi-Fi 6E) is a natural match to high-speed fibre to the premises and will accelerate deployment of 5G services. Regardless of the broadband service type to the premises, Wi-Fi 6E offers the opportunity to connect all endpoints at high speeds for a richer ecosystem and more opportunities of monetisation of the 5G services.

The trial, which took place in December 2021, consisted of a series of scenarios with different tests in both a closed lab environment and over a live internet network to fully understand the potential of Wi-Fi 6 technology in the 6GHz spectrum (Wi-Fi 6E). The tests were orchestrated using a router configured with Broadcom’s Wi-Fi 6E evaluation platform, to which various clients were connected using Intel’s AX210 160 MHz Wi-Fi 6E card to make the whole spectrum available and get the best out of the technology.

The trial made clear that by opening up the full 6GHz spectrum, it is possible to future proof Turkey’s wireless broadband capabilities in the short term with Wi-Fi 6E, and also lay the groundwork for Wi-Fi 7 so that its citizens can utilize the digitally immersive services that will drive advancements in education, manufacturing, entertainment and more.

Tiago Rodrigues, CEO of the Wireless Broadband Alliance, commented: “This trial by Turk Telekom, Broadcom and Intel demonstrate beyond doubt how important Wi-Fi 6E deployment is on our road to a more connected future. By operating in the 6GHz spectrum, interference and latency are dramatically reduced, enhancing the user experience with increased speed and performance worthy of the next-gen applications currently being discussed. The bottlenecks we’re already experiencing will become a thing of the past, and the potential for seamless convergence with 5G networks will not only provide more monetisation opportunities for businesses but establish the building blocks for a truly connected world.”

Türk Telekom CTO Yusuf Kıraç said: “As the first operator to trial the Wi-Fi 6E solution in Turkey, we were able to achieve a connection speed of 2Gbps and above with low latency in the tests we conducted in the test laboratory established at Türk Telekom's Istanbul Acıbadem campus. These speeds we have achieved will enable many applications with the concept of smart office, health, entertainment, security and smart home to be used without any problems. Thanks to the Wi-Fi 6E solution, which we will combine with Türk Telekom's widespread and high-capacity fiber power, we will ensure the widespread use of low-latency high-capacity services in homes and offices.”

“Broadcom were delighted to collaborate with Turk Telekom to demonstrate the real-world benefits of enabling the entire 6GHz for Wi-Fi,” said Burhan Masood of Broadcom and chair of Wireless Broadband Alliance Policy and Regulatory Affairs workgroup. “With our Wi-Fi 6E reference router, Turk Telekom was able to achieve 2Gbps in an uncongested channel.”

“Today, we depend on Wi-Fi more than ever for productivity, education, and entertainment throughout our offices, schools, and homes. This testing demonstrated how high-speed 6 GHz channels enable laptops equipped with Intel® Wi-Fi 6E AX210 cards to achieve multi-gigabit speeds, unencumbered by the overhead or interference of legacy Wi-Fi devices. We would like to congratulate Turk Telekom on the successful execution of this important trial and for helping to showcase the great, responsive experiences 6 GHz Wi-Fi 6E can deliver to Turkish users," said Dr. Necati Canpolat, Intel Corporation, WBA Board Director and WBA Wi-Fi 6/6E Work Group Chair.