Turkcell Superonline

Turkcell Superonline

Basic information
Founded	2004
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Telecommunications
Official website	https://superonline.net

Turkcell Superonline is a Turkcell subsidiary that provides various telecommunications services, primarily fibre internet, over its own infrastructure. Superonline is offering fibre broadband in 28 cities. Superonline has been recognized as the "Fastest Growing ICT Company for the last 3 years" according to ICT500/Turkey listings.

As of Q1 2019, Turkcell has 41.6% of all mobile phone users in Turkey. In October 2020, TVF Bilgi Teknolojileri Iletisim Hizmetleri Yatirim Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. a subsidiary of Turkey Wealth Fund, the wealth fund of the Republic of Turkey, acquired control of 26.2% of Turkcell.

Consumer-impact summary

User freedom faces substantial restrictions as Turkey implements comprehensive internet censorship policies that affect all ISPs including Superonline, with the government's Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) collecting user data hourly including location data, browsing history, and messaging communications. According to Freedom House's comprehensive assessment, Turkey's internet status remains classified as "Not Free" with extensive government control over digital communications and widespread social media blocking affecting service providers like Superonline.

The deterioration of judicial independence since 2016 has further compromised the legal framework governing internet service providers, with thousands of loyalist judges appointed who align with government interests in telecommunications regulation and censorship enforcement.

User privacy concerns are exacerbated by Superonline's extensive data collection practices, processing personally identifiable information, contact data, subscription details, network traffic, location data, payment information, and usage patterns, operating within Turkey's restrictive legal framework that has been documented by Freedom House as increasingly authoritarian. Regarding market control, Superonline operates as the largest alternative ISP with approximately 15% of the broadband market share in 2021, positioning itself as the leading challenger to dominant player Türk Telekom which holds 65.3% market share.

The telecommunications environment is further complicated by Turkey's implementation of constitutional restrictions on freedom of expression online, despite theoretical protections under Article 26 of the constitution, which allows the government to limit or suspend basic freedoms during states of emergency as documented in the 2023 earthquake response.

Incidents

Blue Coat Incident (2013)

Logo of Blue Coat Systems

There are allegations and discussions that Superonline uses Blue Coat products for censorship. Products manufactured by Blue Coat Systems are known as "dual-use" technologies that can be used to defend corporate networks, as well as by governments to censor the internet and monitor public internet traffic. These devices can see some encrypted traffic, block websites or record website traffic.

In 2011, a hacktivist group called Telecomix claimed that Syria was using Blue Coat Systems products to censor the internet and these allegations were investigated by the US government. Citizen Lab's research has also provided evidence of Blue Coat devices being used for censorship and surveillance in countries like Turkey and Syria.

Fair Usage Terms Incident (2012-2019)

Turkcell Superonline started to implement the so-called "Fair Usage Terms" in February 2012. Accordingly, in the data plans called "UNLIMITED", users were assigned a data download quota of 50GB in a one-month period. Users who exceed this quota will have their connection speed reduced to 1 Mbps. There was also a 10GB quota for uploading data. Even if a user does not exceed the 50GB data download quota, if they exceed the 10GB data sending quota, their connection speed was reduced to 10% of the data plans bandwidth. This practice of Superonline has received a huge reaction from users. However, Consumer Problems Arbitration Committees found Superonline's practice to be illegal and ruled in favor of the complaining consumers. This practice was terminated by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority on December 31, 2019. Superonline also has an ongoing practice of reducing the connection speed to 1 Mbps and charging a re-activation fee for users who are late in paying their invoices.

Injecting ads into websites (2017)

Picture Showing Superonline Ads which is injected into the website by ISP itself

Superonline has been criticized for injecting various advertisements into its customers' web connections while they browse the internet, thereby forcing them to watch the advertisements. Requests for clarification to the company went unanswered. This incident was described as the first evidence of traffic monitoring and manipulation through deep packet inspection in Turkey. This problem has since been fixed and the development of HTTPS technology has made it very difficult for this to happen again.

Applying Censorship during Earthquake Incident (2023)

On February 6, 2023, the company was criticized for internet outages at critical moments during the massive earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş, Turkey. Immediately after the earthquake disaster, the collapse of the internet infrastructure, which was critical for search and rescue operations and coordination, left both citizens and government agencies in a difficult situation. In the aftermath, Superonline was severely criticized for its lack of infrastructure resilience and emergency preparedness.

The incident occurred within the context of Turkey's three-month state of emergency enacted in 11 provinces following the February 2023 earthquakes, which gave the president power to pass laws without parliamentary approval and allowed the government to limit or suspend basic freedoms including telecommunications access. There has also been controversy over the company's compliance with social media bans in Turkey during the earthquake, implemented under emergency powers that allowed authorities to take measures to prevent the circulation of information deemed false. The biggest criticism has been the restriction of communication opportunities for people trapped under the remains of the earthquake and putting lives at risk. Internet freedom advocates have criticized Superonline's quick implementation of these bans, especially when access restrictions are imposed on social media platforms which helped find the trapped people.

Controversies

PPPoE/WAN Password Restrictions

Picture of HG255S modem provided by Turkcell SUperonline

Turkcell Superonline does not disclose the PPPoE/WAN username and password of its users. This restricts the freedom of users to use their own modems instead of the modems rented to them by Superonline. Although some users try to obtain this password through various methods, it is reported to be very difficult or impossible to obtain, especially for some modem models (e.g. HG255s). It is stated by users that even if the PPPoE username and password are known, the internet service provider (ISP) must register the MAC address of the new modem in its system, otherwise the modem cannot be used. This can be bypassed by cloning rented modems MAC addresses.

Disabling Root Accounts and Firmware Restrictions

Turkcell Superonline's decision to restrict or completely disable access to the root account on the modems it rents to its users has sparked controversy among users. Superonline does not allow the use of third party modems. The firmware of the modems provided by Superonline is often customized and restricted, preventing users from gaining root access via web interface, telnet or ssh. One of the main reasons for this is that modem firmware updates and management are centralized by Superonline. It is argued that this centralized management may become more difficult if users have root access. While some users have stated that they need root access to configure their modem's settings in more detail, to install alternative firmware (like OpenWRT or Asus Merlin Firmware), or to enable/disable certain features, they have encountered this restriction by Superonline. In particular, some modem models are reported to disable features such as backups and manual updates via files in order to make it more difficult to obtain the root password. Some modem models have also been reported to disable the ability to change the main DNS server.

Censorship Using Deep Packet Inspection

Superonline's Mascot Showing a Modem With Turkcell Logo on it

Superonline is one of the most active utilizers of deep packet inspection (DPI) technology among internet service providers in Turkey, operating within a regulatory environment that Freedom House describes as systematically restricting online freedoms. With this technology, Superonline applies content-based censorship by analyzing users' internet traffic in detail, implementing policies that align with Turkey's broader approach to internet control documented by Freedom House as part of the country's "Not Free" internet status.

Unlike traditional packet inspection, DPI technology also scans the content of data packets and provides the ability to detect and block VPN protocols. According to user reports, Superonline has one of the most strictly censored internet service in Turkey, and in the past has taken measures strict enough to completely block VPN protocols such as WireGuard. It also blocks or throttles popular VPN services and their websites such as Cloudflare Warp (connection itself), ProtonVPN (throttles the website), Surfshark (throttles the website, up-to-date info required for connection), Psiphon (connection itself), NordVPN (throttles the website, up-to-date info required for connection) and constantly tightens its DPI-based scanning systems.

The implementation of laws imposing prison sentences of up to three years for individuals deemed to promote false information on social media has created additional pressure on ISPs like Superonline to implement stringent content filtering measures.