ISTANBUL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--At a press conference held in Istanbul, Turkey’s alternative ISPs announced plans to work on a joint venture company. Turkcell Superonline – a wholly-owned subsidiary of Turkcell (NYSE:TKC) (BIST:TCELL) – Vodafone Turkey, TurkSAT and members of TELKODER (Telecommunication Operators Association) launched negotiations for the JVC with the aim of investing more efficiently in Turkey’s fixed broadband infrastructure.
The eventual creation of the Joint Venture will allow the efficient use of existing infrastructure, and create better conditions for future investments by removing the need for duplicate infrastructure-building. The industry as a whole will benefit from fairer conditions in investment and in provision of services, while the Turkish economy’s resources will be used more efficiently as ultrafast broadband penetration increases.
In their joint declaration, the companies stated:
“A fully digital future for our country is indispensable, and this is the vision which leads us to launch this initiative. Our goal is to ensure that fast broadband services are widespread, high-quality and affordable. This initiative is open to all companies in our country’s telecommunications landscape and we are confident that both public and private sector players will support it. We also believe that the vast majority of society will support our effort which aims to contribute to a brighter digital future for our country.”
Turkcell has been at the forefront of efforts to improve the efficiency of fixed broadband investments, with Turkcell CEO Kaan Terzioglu calling for a joint venture for fixed broadband connectivity as early as September 2015.
Speaking at a conference call with Turkcell’s investors following the announcement of Turkcell’s 2nd Quarter results, Terzioglu said:
“We marked a milestone in the telecommunications sector today, serving Turkey’s broader 2023 economic targets. We have taken a significant step in forming an infrastructure company with a vision of ensuring efficient use of resources while establishing a fair and competitive environment. The alliance members constitute 55% of the Turkish telecommunications industry’s revenue. Our objective is to make sure that 21 million more households in Turkey reach a viable ftth solution,” said Terzioğlu.
Turkcell had previously announced that Turkey could save up to 12.6 billion USD if 3 major operators were to invest jointly rather than separately.
Turkcell’s subsidiary Turkcell Superonline is currently the largest alternative ISP and the market leader in fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) in terms of customer number with 965 thousand subscribers. Turkcell Superonline has 2.5 million fiber home passes and 39% take-up rate.
ABOUT TURKCELL: Turkcell is a converged telecommunication and technology services provider, founded and headquartered in Turkey. It serves its customers with voice, data, TV and value-added consumer and enterprise services on mobile and fixed networks. Turkcell launched LTE services in its home country on April 1st , 2016, employing LTE-Advanced and 3 carrier aggregation technologies in 81 cities. In 2G and 3G, Turkcell’s population coverage is at 99.80% and 95.14%, respectively, as of June 2016. It offers up to 1 Gbps fiber internet speed with its FTTH services. Turkcell Group companies serve 66.5 million subscribers in 9 countries – Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus, Northern Cyprus, Germany, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Moldova – as of June 30, 2016. Turkcell Group reported a TRY3.4 billion revenue with total assets of TRY28.6 billion as of June 30, 2016. It has been listed on the NYSE and the BIST since July 2000, and is the only NYSE-listed company in Turkey. Read more at www.turkcell.com.tr