New results from the Turkish operator Turk Telekom shows that despite the global economic downturn, its revenues grew by 3.5 per cent over the first six months of 2009 to stand at 5.149 billion New Turkish Lira, reports Martyn Warwick
The main drivers behind the unexpected revenue growth are the continuing popularity and uptake of mobile telephony (revenues in this sector are 14 per cent up on last year) and the increasing attraction of ADSL where revenues grew by 29 per cent year-on-year.
However, it's not all plain sailing. The carrier posted a net profit of 821 million Lira for the first half of 2009 - that's down from TRL 1.026 billion Lira reported for the same period in 2008.
Turkey is a big country with a big population. The telecoms market is liberalised and there are a variety of alternative, competitive mobile operators. Turk Telecom itself is 55 per cent per cent owned by private investors.
Furthermore, although Turkey is not a member of the EU, the country's regulatory framework has been changed and adapted to conform with that in place in the 27 Member States..
Turk Telecom's current focus is on the further deployment of ADSL, the roll-out of 3G mobile services wherever possible and improving the quality of services. A report issued just yesterday shows that Turkey now has four million 3G subscribers.
As in the rest of the world, fixed-line revenues are in decline and Turk Telekom is concentrating on the broadband Internet market. Thanks to the sheer size and ubiquity of its network, (and the lack (for the moment at least) of any credible rival networks) the incumbent operator dominates the wholesale broadband market while its subsidiary TTnet has a market share of 95 per cent.
That said, Turk telecom's main rival, Turkcell, via its subsidiary Tellcom, is investing heavily in the roll-out of fibre infrastructure to Turkey's main cities. Turkcell also owns a big ISP.
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