REPORTS / TELECOM AND INTERNET · OCT 2026
Which Operator Does AI Recommend?
500 unbranded telecom and internet questions produced 2,999 answers on six engines. The three operators draw level on mentions; Turkcell opens the list most often, and the answers lean on the operators’ own sites.
INSIDE THE CONSOLE
MEASURED · 19 OCTOBER 2026Mentions: three operators level
Answers naming each operator, of 2,999
First place: the gap is here
The first name in branded answers
Who writes the source?
Sources cited by ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity
The engine changes the shelf
Share of answers that name a brand
Two routes in home internet
Being recommended and being cited
The question universe
20 topics, 8 user types, all in Turkish
METHODOLOGY
500 unbranded questions, 6 answer engines, 2,999 answers
Every question was asked separately on six engines, from a Turkish location and in Turkish, on 19 October 2026. Brands were recorded in the order they appeared and cited sources by address.
20 topics, 8 user types
Twenty-five questions each on 20 topics, from choosing an operator, tariffs and coverage to number porting, fibre, 5G, roaming, phone deals, complaints, contracts, eSIM and IMEI registration. Eight user types, from students and Turks living abroad to small businesses and foreigners arriving in Türkiye.
ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Mistral, DeepSeek, Meta Llama
ChatGPT and Gemini answers were taken from the apps people use, with web search on. Perplexity searches the web too; Mistral, DeepSeek and Meta Llama answer from what they learned in training.
Mentions, first place and sources
A brand counts at most once per answer. The first brand named in each answer and the sites the engine cited as sources were recorded separately.
Sub-brands were counted under their parent
Vodafone Net and FreeZone were counted as Vodafone; TT Mobil and Türk Telekom Fiber as Türk Telekom; GNÇ as Turkcell. Superonline was counted as an internet brand of its own.
CRITICAL FINDINGS
Three operators level, but not an even shelf
Turkcell opens the list
By mentions: Vodafone 46.7%, Türk Telekom 44.8%, Turkcell 41.1%. By first place in branded answers: Turkcell 30%, Türk Telekom 18.1%, Vodafone 9.3%. Being in the answer and opening it are different things.
Each operator owns its own topics
Turkcell: Family and multiple lines, Coverage and signal, Mobile data and 5G, eSIM and smart devices, Bills, payments and apps. Vodafone: Using a phone abroad, Choosing a mobile operator, Foreigners, tourists and IMEI registration, Student and youth tariffs, Prepaid lines, Phone deals, Tariffs and package prices. Türk Telekom: Customer service and complaints, Home internet and fibre, Infrastructure and speed, Business lines and office internet, Number porting, Contracts and cancelling.
The operators write their own sources
34.3% of the sources ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity cited are the operators’ own sites. In the real estate report the big portals held 5.7%: in telecom, tariff, campaign and coverage facts come straight from operator pages.
In home internet, one is named and the other is cited
Superonline was recommended in 234 answers and its site cited in 67. TurkNet was recommended in 159 and its site cited in 99.
A ten-year-old name change is still in the answers
Avea and TTNET have run under the single Türk Telekom brand since 27 January 2016. Even so, 58 answers use the old names: TTNET in 39, Avea in 20. 94.8% of them come from engines that do not search the web.
Complaint answers point to the regulator
The regulator BTK was named in 217 answers and came first in 156. On customer service and complaint questions the most-cited site was sikayetvar.com.
THE RANKING
The 10 most visible brands
How many of the 2,999 answers name each brand. Public bodies such as BTK and e-Devlet are left out.
THE CATEGORY BREAKDOWN
Every field has its own leader
Percentages are the share of answers naming at least one brand from that field.
Mobile operator → Vodafone
80.8% · then Türk Telekom, Turkcell
Home internet → Superonline
65.2% · then TurkNet, Türksat Kablonet, D-Smart
Virtual operator → BİMcell
67.3% · then Pttcell, Netgsm, Teknosacell
Modems and devices → Apple
43.7% · then TP-Link, Samsung, ASUS
Travel eSIM → Airalo
96% · then Holafly, Nomad, Ubigi
Speed test → Speedtest (Ookla)
76.7% · then OpenSignal, Nperf, Fast.com
Tariff comparison → CepteTarife
28.6% · then Cimri, TarifeAvcısı, Enuygun
Public body → BTK
78.1% · then e-Devlet, EPDK, Tüketici Hakem Heyeti
TOPIC MAP
Who leads on which question?
Twenty-five questions per topic, 150 answers across six engines. Named: the share of answers naming at least one brand or body. Leader: the share of answers naming the most-mentioned name.
SOURCES
Where does AI get its information?
ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity answers cited 8,958 sources across 1,878 different sites. The ten most-cited sites hold 36.9% of them, against 13.1% in real estate.
Other independent sites · 41.3%
Specialist blogs, local sites and single-topic guides.
Operator sites · 34.3%
vodafone.com.tr, turkcell.com.tr, bireysel.turktelekom.com.tr, turk.net
Public bodies · 7%
tuketici.btk.gov.tr, turkiye.gov.tr, tuketici.ticaret.gov.tr
Tech news sites · 4.2%
webtekno.com, donanimhaber.com, technopat.net
Forums and complaint sites · 3.8%
sikayetvar.com, forum.donanimhaber.com
Comparison sites · 2.1%
Specialist blogs, local sites and single-topic guides.
Law and legislation · 1.6%
Specialist blogs, local sites and single-topic guides.
News sites · 1.6%
Specialist blogs, local sites and single-topic guides.
USER TYPES
The order changes with who is asking
Percentages are the share of answers to that user type’s questions that name the brand.
Traveller or Turk living abroad · named 89.1%
Turkcell 47.4% · Vodafone 47.4% · Türk Telekom 36.5%
Foreigner arriving in Türkiye · named 88.7%
Vodafone 56% · Turkcell 50% · Türk Telekom 44%
Student or young user · named 87.8%
Vodafone 59.6% · Turkcell 52.9% · Türk Telekom 51.6%
Retiree or older user · named 87.2%
Vodafone 57.8% · Türk Telekom 54.4% · Turkcell 53.3%
Gamer or speed seeker · named 84.7%
Vodafone 34.7% · Türk Telekom 33.3% · Turkcell 28.2%
Family or general user · named 83.6%
Vodafone 42.7% · Türk Telekom 42.6% · Turkcell 38.1%
Small business · named 81.7%
Türk Telekom 57.4% · Vodafone 55.8% · Turkcell 42.1%
Remote worker · named 81.3%
Türk Telekom 46% · Vodafone 39% · Turkcell 32%
WHAT TO DO
A first step for every kind of player
Each recommendation rests on this measurement; the evidence sits beside it.
Operators
Being named is not enough; opening the list matters. On topics a rival leads (see the topic map), pages that answer the question directly, such as “which tariff for students” or “which operator works in villages”, are the shortest way to first place.
Internet providers
Being a source lasts longer than being recommended: TurkNet’s site is cited in most answers that recommend it. A provider that answers infrastructure, speed and installation questions on open pages writes the engines’ sentences.
Virtual operators
BİMcell and Pttcell share most of the 98 answers that name a virtual operator. A page that says plainly whose network it uses and who it suits stands out on “cheap line” questions.
Modem and device makers
On modem questions Apple leads; retail brands are recommended, not the operators’ own modems. Turkish set-up and fibre compatibility guides are the natural source for these questions.
Comparison sites
Tariff comparison sites were named in only 35 answers. Current, dated and independent tariff tables are what the engines need most and find least.
Travel and eSIM
On travel eSIM questions Airalo stands out, competing with the operators’ roaming packages. A page that gives prices country by country, with a date, becomes the source here.
In telecom, AI’s shelf is narrow: each of the three operators appears in almost half of all answers. The difference is who opens the list and whose page writes the sentence.
Telecom and Internet AI Visibility Report, October 2026Brantial Research
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