Voice Licences Have Been Given As a First Time

With the end of the Turk Telekom’s monopoly over the market on 1/1/2004, after the privatisation in the Telekom industry, the long awaited licences have been finally distributed in a ceremony today. At the ceremony, due to the high demand of the company’s access code of 0811222 and prefix code of 1088, the owner of these codes have been selected through a drawing. In the drawing, TurcoNet has got the access code of 0811222 and the prefix of 1088 has been given to Eser Telecommunications company.

At the ceremony, 3 types of licences have been distributed among the received applications. The following companies have received a license.

Type A (7 pieces): Superonline, Koc.Net, Eser Telekom, Doğan İletişim, Sabancı Telekom, Borusan Telekom, Global İletişim.

Type B (13 pieces): Deltakom İletişim, Atlas OnLine, Mor-Tel Telekom, MEGA telekom, Net İletişim, Kaya Telekom, İnko İletişim, Akcell İletişim, SGS Telekom, GİSAD Telekom, VİANET telekom, Turkonet İletişim, LTDS Telekom.

Type C (7 pieces): TSM Bilişim, Televarsal İletişim, Telnet Telekom, İnterkom Telekom, İşnet İletişim, UTH Telekom, İkon İletişim.

Although the licences have been distributed, due to the infrastructure work and the interim linkage that they will undergo with Turk Telekom (For Type C, a duration of 2 months) as well as the number of assignments will urge Telekom operators to start working at earliest in 2 months.

With the entry of the new Telekom operators in the market, the sector will flourish and will be able to offer different options to customers. This means, the diversification of the service quality and the decrease in prices.

At the same time, the telecommunications corporation has developed a new “Consumer Relations Complaint Center”. With this center the Telekom operators will be supervised.

Transportation Minister Yıldırım

Transportation minister Binali Yıldırım said that the privatisation in the telecommunications sector will lead to a market growth and will produce new employment opportunities. Minister Yıldırım, further said that, “he is anticipating a decrease in the phone call prices as expected.”

Minister Yıldırım, asked the licencees to increase Turk Telekom’s market share and said, “after today we will be able to see more than one firm providing telecommunications services in a competitive environment. With the privatisation of the telecommunications sector as a nation we expect a growth in the market, new employment opportunities, and finally with the quality increase through competition we expect a decrease in the phone call rates.”

TK President Arasıl

The president of the Telecommunications Foundation (TK) Ömer Arasıl, indicated that the delay in the licence distribution is a “delay which is caused by the legal regulations.” Arasıl, referred to Turk Telekom as a “big brother” for its position in the sector. Arasıl further added that “Turk Telekom will asisst to the growth of the new licencees and will provide a competitive enviroment in the sector.”

Arasıl indicated that the 1,4 billion dollars worth of UMTH market will provide trained work force employment. He said: “until the beginning of the year 2007, we predict the development of a 4,5-5 billion dollars worth UMTH market.” Arasıl further indicated that by the end of 2004, all the companies which have applied for a licence will be able to gain a revenue, which is 4,5 times more than their planned investment cost.