Investments in Turkey's electronic communication sector surged by 66% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2020 to TL 3.5 billion ($500 million), the country's transportation and infrastructure minister said Monday.

Commenting on a quarterly report on Turkey’s electronic communication sector prepared by Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK), Karaismailoğlu said Turkey's leading information and communication technology company, Türk Telekom, and other mobile operators alone invested some TL 2.6 billion ($370 million) in the electronic communications sector during the March-January period.

The number of operators in the electronic communication sector was 456 at the end of Q1, and the number of authorizations given to these operators reached 823, the minister said.

"These investments consisted mainly of the expansion of fiber infrastructure, radio network investments, optimization of mobile network capacity to respond to an increase in traffic during the pandemic and emergencies."

The operator revenues in the electronic communications sector, reached TL 17.6 billion, increasing TL 2.2 billion in the first quarter compared with the same period last year. Meanwhile, sales revenues of operators other than Türk Telekom and mobile operators amounted to TL 4.3 billion, the minister noted.

The minister highlighted that the communications sector emerged stronger from the coronavirus pandemic for successfully responding to the increased demand for communication services.

Karaismailoğlu noted that new home office and homeschooling arrangements pushed demand for broadband internet and mobile telecommunications.

"We have been in constant contact with sector representatives to help them take the necessary precautions to protect the health of people working in the sector and to provide electronic communication services without interruption."