The first part of this interview will be read at ; Turktan: There is a Potential of 10-15 Million New Customers in Turkey – 1
Year 2007 was started with great competition in Turkey in the mobile sector. Against Turkcell, the dominating company of the market, world giant Vodafone and Turk Telekom who is the owner of Avea enlivened the market with the tariffs they announced. We discussed both the world as well as the Turkish mobile sectors’ status with Avea CEO Turktan:
How Do You See the Mobile Sector Both in Turkey and in the World?
Cuneyt Turktan : We estimate that the market in Turkey will grow till year 2010. There is slacking in the European market. The reason we guess that there will be growth in Turkey is because there is more of a young population. These youngsters are the potential mobile customers of the coming years. There seems to be increase in Turkey in GSMH. As a matter of fact, the increase in number of lines in Turkey between the years of 2006-2010 is even above Eastern Asia with a rate of 47 %.
It is seen that satisfaction is reached in the world mobile sector. Now the annual increase is in the range of 10 % (22 % between years2006-2010). East Asia is outside this. Countries especially like China and India are triggering the growth there. There is a figure of 43% between years2006-2010 but Turkey is also above this. As we said above it is 47 %. When income is assessed, while an increase of 31% is seen in the World between years 2006-2010, it is calculated to be 15% in Europe and 41% in Turkey (source OECD)
Both in income and in numbers the growth is high. The number of telephone lines which is 52,4 million at the moment appears to be 77,2 in 2010, while at the same time the UK’s present figure of 70,1 is estimated to go up to 77,5. In other words it appears that we will be catching up with the UK in numbers within 4 years. Right now we are ranking 12th in the world in number of lines.
The problem discussed in the world GSM sector is the fact that we the operators are offering technology at a rate faster than the rate with which the subscribers are accepting it. We experienced this also with WAP. For 5-6 years there wasn’t a device for WAP nor was service. The same problem cane up for GPRS as well. It did not even have a web site. When MMS came up it didn’t have hardware. On the other hand, MMS is on the agenda again now. The devices are up in the market and ascent is noted.
For 3G there will not be device, service etc. in the economic sense for 3-5 years.
Can You Evaluate the Turkish Market and the present Mobile Operators for us? What are the Advantages? What are the Disadvantages?
Cuneyt Turktan : Turkcell is very big. Either way it developed in a rival free medium. There is not a firm anywhere in the world that has got the 60% of the market share. Generally in every country there are 2 firms that have a market share close to each other’s. For this reason Turkcell is not used to rivalry. This is its disadvantage. Another disadvantage of Turkcell is that Telsim is taken over by world giant Vodafone.
Vodafone though does not know the Turkish market. That is its disadvantage. Every country has its own culture. It will take time for it to learn this culture.
Since both Avea and Vodafone are not the dominating forces (EPG) in the market they have the possibility of more comfortable action. On the other hand, this is a disadvantage for Turkcell and Turkish Telecom.
Those that secure the institutions in the coming period will get ahead.
Avea’s disadvantage is joining the market late. With the 2 firms joining and so forth we can say that it is entering the market only in 2007. Its advantage is preserving its dynamism. Also our young and dynamic team has the ambition to win.
However the most important advantage of Avea now is the tariff structure which we call “real price”. We are offering service with prices that are 30% below those of Turkcell and Vodafone. A rate of 25 krş whether it is for home or for mobile, it is an advantageous price.
The fact that Vodafone is switching to rate in kuruş instead of units is only geared to remove the opportunity of comparison. The customer is puzzled in this situation.
Which one will the consumer accept? We shall see in time. But we believe that when the consumer sees the net price, in other words the figure he estimates to come, on his invoice he will use his choice in this direction. The complex tariffs are scaring the customers.
The first part of this interview will be read at ; Turktan: We are Forming and Settling the Avea Culture – 3
Turkish translation of this chapter will be read at ; Turktan: Avea’nın Asıl Avantajı Gerçek Fiyat Dediğimiz Tarife Yapısı – 2
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