Dr.Doany : We are looking for international expansion opportunities – 11

Previous chapters of that interview would be read at

• 15 Months After Privatization of Turkish Telecom – 1
• Dr.Doany; Salaries Will Be Get An Increase In March – 2
• Dr.Doany : Oger Telecom Staff is Assisting TT Staff – 3
• Dr.Doany : 26,000 Job Applications Received for TT in a year – 4
• Dr.Doany : We Compliant With Our Concession Aggreement Obligations
• Dr.Doany : 2007 Investment Plan is 1,3 Billion YTL – 6
• Dr.Doany : Wholesale Tariff is Waiting for Approval – 7
• Dr.Doany : Our Real Competitor Is Mobile – 8
• Dr.Doany : Bed Dept Campaign Target is 35-40% – 9
• Dr.Doany : Voice Tariff Rebalancing was a Fundamental Assumption of the Business Plan – 10

In that chapter we asked questions about Dealers, Avea, British Telecom, Telecom Italia relations and new abroad expanding plans.

Question – 28 : How many dealers do you have?

Dr.Paul Doany : We have approximately 2500 TT franchisees, 900 outlets through solution partners and 170 TT offices.

Question – 29 : Which products and services do these dealers offer today? Will you make it possible for them to offer additional products or services in 2007?

Dr.Paul Doany : We have a plan to increase sales through dealers, including our standard products, plus CPE (customer premises equipment), particularly in relation to our new products to be launched soon.

We will have many good surprises in that regard, which will be a win-win for the company and the dealers.

TTnet and Avea may also benefit from these dealers, through specific distribution agreements as well.

Question – 30 : Will TTNet offer new services in 2007?

Dr.Paul Doany :TTnet have plans for new services.

I prefer that these announcements are made by the TTnet General Manager in the next few months.

Question – 31 : What is your opinion about Avea after 15 months?

Dr.Paul Doany : I believe that the management of Avea will be very successful.

We have increased investments last year by 300M USD, and the company achieved excellent results in relation to network performance (coverage and capacity). In that regard the results are very competitive with Turkcell, as notified to us by the Telecommunications Authority – only Vodafone are lagging behind.

In terms of their new products, I believe that Avea is very competitive, and is absolutely on the right track. The new portal service is very impressive, and their Blackberry service is superior, particularly on EDGE, which provides improved speed.

We will continue to invest heavily this year, and expect excellent results.

Question – 32 : Do you have any plan to merge Avea and TT or will Avea remain as a separate company?

Dr.Paul Doany : Avea is a separate company from TT, and this will not change. The reasons are a combination of regulations and shareholder structure (as Avea and TT are not owned by the same shareholders).

However, we have a number of synergy projects, that do not conflict with the regulatory regime (in terms of non-discrimination), and we believe these will be good for TT and for Avea as well.

Question – 33 : What is the latest situation about Telecom Italia?

Dr.Paul Doany : TI decision to sell their Avea shares was agreed during the privatisation process, with a view of aligning the interests of all shareholders in case we won. Noting that TI was already a shareholder in Oger Telecom, and the second step was to agree for TT to purchase the TI shares in Avea, or for Oger Telecom to take those shares. Of course, it makes more sense for TI to increase its shares in Oger Telecom, than having shares in both Oger Telecom and additional direct shares in Avea – in other words, TI gets much more value by concentrating their shares through Oger Telecom. This aligns the interest of all shareholders, and removes the ‘co-control’ structure that existed before, namely sharing of control by TT and TI – that was a problematic structure.

This is now completed, and TI has a total of 450M USD investment in Oger Telecom.

Question – 34 : What about British Telecom (BT)? Are you satisfied with their consultancy services?

Dr.Paul Doany : BT Telconsult are providing support to TT in a number of areas, including organisational development, data/informatics, in addition to other general support (such Local Loop Unbundling, etc.).

We believe that BT Telconsult is providing good value, and we see increased interaction now with the technical departments, such as NGN studies.

We can learn from their successes, and hope to also learn from their mistakes… as a wiseman once said, ”In business it is best to learn from other people’s mistakes, as you can’t afford to make your own”. They are one of the leading operators worldwide, and also have much experience in NGN (the most developed network in the world), IPTV, Fixed/Mobile Convergence (FMC), in addition to operating in the most competitive market (largest unbundled network).

We hope to cooperate with BT Telconsult in other markets as well. One specific opportunity is being considered currently.

Question – 35 : Do you have any international acquisition plans? What can you say about Bulgarian Telekom, Saudi GSM tender and Kyrgyz Telecom?

Dr.Paul Doany : We are looking at a number of international expansion opportunities, including fixed and mobile, where TT will be able to export its know how and experience, and skilled personnel, thus increasing the value of the company.

We would like to acquire some technology / service companies. This is essential, not to support our business, but to promote growth of our market, domestically and internationally. We really want to develop into a leading full-service company, and offer strong after sale support including: IT services, integrated telephony/data services and also operational/business support services.

This will be a challenge but we are ready to take it on. Through strategic acquisitions we believe that we will succeed. We have candidate target companies that we are considering right now. Internationally, we have 3 specific opportunities that we are now at an advanced evaluation stage, and we are hoping for at least 2 important acquisitions to happen this year.

We are bound by confidentiality agreements, and are not able to provide any further information on these potential acquisitions.

At the following chapter, financial questions will be held at Dr.Doany : The projected net income is 2.92 bn YTL – 12.

Turkish translation of that part at Dr.Doany : Sabit ve Mobil Uluslararası Genişleme Fırsatlarına Bakıyoruz – 11

Whole interview as Turkish and English, will be reached at Paul Doany Interview file.