Mobile phone imports down 40 percent in midst of crisis
Posted by meb at February 9th, 2009
The global economic crisis and the ensuing slide in overall market demand have taken their toll on sales of mobile phones in the Turkish markets.
Recep Uzelli, the chairman of Teleses, a leading group in the telecommunications business, said mobile phone imports have dropped 40 percent in the last two months as a consequence of the growing tendency among Turkish consumers to slash expenditures.
Speaking to the Anatolia news agency yesterday, Uzelli noted that mobile phone sales had already started to show signs of a downturn even before the crisis erupted. Phone sales were much better in 2005 and 2006 than they were last year, he said. 2007 was a year of stagnation in the number of sales, but the crisis caused a real blow to sales performance, Uzelli emphasized.
In 2007 the average number of phones sold in Turkey every month was 1.5 million, but this number dropped to 957,000 last year. Things have gotten even worse this year, he emphasized, noting that monthly sales had dropped to 700,000 in January. He estimates that this decline will continue, bringing sales to as low as 500,000 by the end of this year.
Sales in the last two months, January 2009 and December 2008, also indicate a 40 percent drop in mobile phone imports from the same period a year ago.
Uzelli, whose company imports and distributes Samsung phones and works in close cooperation with mobile phone service operator Turkcell, also points to a looming catastrophe for mobile device dealers across Turkey. There are 15,000 phone stores in Turkey, and they are now in a difficult financial situation due to the overall drop in sales. Uzelli says 10-15 percent of these dealers have already had to shut their doors amidst the economic turbulence.
The good news in spite of all these negative developments, however, will be the start of third-generation mobile services (3G) in the months ahead. Turkcell is considering a campaign to sell 3G-compatible devices at price ranging between TL 200 and TL 300, Uzelli said, predicting that these campaigns may boost sales by up to 30 percent. Aside from supplying consumers with 3G mobile phones, the promotion campaign will offer Internet connectivity and prepaid card services.
source: Today’s Zaman
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