ULAK Communications: the ASELSAN-controlled vendor behind Türkiye’s sovereign 5G rollout
Türkiye switched on commercial 5G across all 81 provinces on 1 April 2026, five and a half months after a spectrum auction held on 16 October 2025. The licences carry a domestic-content requirement of at least 50 percent in the first year, rising to 55 and then 60 percent. The company expected to fill much of that quota is ULAK Haberleşme, an Ankara-based base station vendor in which defence electronics group ASELSAN holds 51 percent and software house HAVELSAN 25 percent.
From 1,500 to 6,500 sites
General manager Ruşen Kömürcü told Anadolu Agency in January 2026 that ULAK equipment serves more than 1,500 base station sites across the three national operators, and that agreements reached with Turkcell and Türk Telekom at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona aim to place more than 6,500 ULAK base stations on operator sites. Turkcell had earlier announced a target of 3,250 sites for ULAK’s 4.5G and 5G products. According to Kömürcü, existing 4.5G sites are being converted to 5G, with testing and acceptance under way and operators regularly reviewing domestic alternatives to foreign equipment.
The company says it has tested Massive MIMO, developed Open RAN-compatible baseband and radio units, and is deploying mobile private networks for ports, factories, mines and universities. Its domestic 5G private network system first went on air at 3.5 GHz in September 2024, demonstrating 1.4 Gbps at a 6G conference in Istanbul.
Defence lineage and a European comparison
ULAK was set up on 20 April 2017 by SSTEK, the investment arm of Türkiye’s Defence Industry Agency, before ASELSAN took control in October 2018 and HAVELSAN joined in February 2020. Its portfolio spans 4.5G and 5G base stations, core network, SD-WAN and software-defined data centre products. The company chairs the Communications Technologies Cluster (HTK) and claims more than 100 patent filings on 6G. It has also shown an airborne base station pod for the ANKA UAV, rated for 20 hours at 20,000 feet over a 2.5 square kilometre footprint, an application with obvious military and disaster-relief uses.
The model stands in contrast to the EU, where the 5G toolbox has pushed members to phase out Chinese vendors without creating a European champion beyond Ericsson and Nokia. Türkiye instead created a state-aligned vendor and mandated its uptake, a route more comparable to Japan’s Rakuten or India’s push for domestic RAN. ULAK says it runs private networks in two countries and is targeting Turkic republics and African markets for exports once 5G is commercialised at home.
Gaps in the public record
No verified public figures were found for ULAK’s revenue, 5G unit deliveries to date or the share of each operator’s 5G network running on its equipment.
FAQ
Who owns ULAK Communications?
ASELSAN holds 51 percent and HAVELSAN 25 percent; the company was founded by SSTEK in 2017.
What is Türkiye’s 5G local-content rule?
At least 50 percent domestic content in year one, 55 percent in year two and 60 percent from year three.
When did 5G launch in Türkiye?
On 1 April 2026, in all 81 provinces.
