GSM market to hail new partners
Posted by meb at May 7th, 2008
Turkey’s GSM market, which has a volume of 65 million subscribers, will grow further soon through a new implementation that will allow companies to offer phone line services just like GSM operators.
The Telecommunications Authority has included the Mobile Network Virtual Operator (MNVO) project in its plan for the second half of the year, Turkey’s weekly economy magazine Ekonomist reported.
Virtual operators, which are expected to begin receiving licenses in June, will be able to form their own customer portfolios by making use of the infrastructure of one or more GSM operators. They will also have an opportunity to sell GSM lines under their own brands. They will also be able to form their infrastructures via a telecom platform, and use the voice networks of the telecom companies. Global telecom company Effortel and local companies Vegatel and Koçnet are interested in the issue.
Many Turkish companies, such as Boyner Holding, Smile Holding, Teknosa, Migros, CarrefourSA, DiaSA as well as several banks including Garanti, co-owned by General Electric Co., are getting ready to benefit from the implementation. Moreover, three major sports clubs Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray and Beşiktaş aim to be a part of the competition. The Telecommunications Authority Law, expected to be ratified by Parliament soon, is waited for the legal arrangement.
Market growth:
The market, which currently has three operators, is expected to develop further and obtain an annual growth of 10 percent. There are over 300 MNVOs operating worldwide, said Serhat Özeren, chairman of the Turkish Telecommunications and Energy Consumer Rights and Sectoral Research Association (TEDER).
A MVNO named Saunalahti, which caused the Finnish market to witness a 35 percent decline in prices and cost the operators 18 percent revenue losses, reached 10 percent market share, he said. The implementation will not bring in profits for two or three years, Özeren said, adding that the company value, however, will increase upon reaching a certain amount of subscribers.
With the arrival of the virtual operators, various services will appear due to the competition, bringing a decline in prices. Turkey’s biggest mobile-phone operator, Turkcell says that it will contribute to the development of the new market structure with its infrastructure. Virtual operators will enter into competition to increase brand awareness and create company value, and launch campaigns in favor of consumers.
It is generally informatics and retail companies that offer virtual operator services abroad. Virgin Mobile, established by British billionaire Richard Branson in 1999, has reached 5 million subscribers as a virtual GSM operator. Carphone Warehouse, which has a mobile phone sale chain in the United Kingdom, as well as Tesco, known for its supermarket chain, has MVNO companies.
Boyner Group is the only company in Turkey that has announced the date to start operating in the field. The company plans to launch the project this autumn, when the number portability will be effective.
Banks to obtain lion’s share:
Banks and their subsidiaries are unable to operate in the GSM field in accordance with the legislation. “It is possible for the banks to invest in this field via the companies formed under the umbrella of the holdings they are affiliated with, said Cenk Soyak, managing director at Effortel, which has now entered Turkish market. “We foresee the first two or three banks that will enter the sector to gain 30 to 40 percent of the Turkey’s MVNO market.
Unlike other countries, GSM operators in Turkey allocate a 15 percent share from their turnover to the Treasury, said Rıdvan Uğurlu, secretary general of the Turkish Competitive Telco Operators’ Association (TELKODER). “The negotiations between the Telecommunications Authority and the Ministry of Finance are ongoing to prevent any price burden on citizens.”
source: Turkish Daily News
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