Turkcell

Infobox Company
company_name = Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S.
company_
company_type = Public
foundation = 1994
location = flagicon|Turkey Istanbul, Turkey
slogan = "Connect to life with Turkcell"
industry = Mobile telecommunications
products = Mobile phone services, mobile phone related goods
revenue =
operating_income =
net_income =
num_employees =
parent =
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homepage = [http://www.turkcell.com.tr/en www.turkcell.com.tr]
footnotes =

Turkcell (nyse|TKC) is the leading mobile phone operator of Turkey, based in Istanbul. The company has 34.8 million subscribers by the end of September 2007, making it the second biggest in Europe.

Company background

In February 1994, Turkcell started Turkey's first GSM network. Its competitors are Vodafone with a market share of 24% and Avea with a market share of 16%.

Turkcell is the first Turkish company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), where its shares have been traded since July 11, 2000 along with trading on the Istanbul Stock Exchange (IMKB).

Turkcell's shareholder structure is as follows: 51% is held by Turkcell Holding A.Ş., 4.15% by Çukurova Holding A.Ş., 13.07% by Sonera Holding B.V., 2.32% by MV Holding A.Ş., and the free float is 29.38%. Çukurova Group controls the company despite holding only 18% of the share capital, due to a complicated shareholding/voting structure.

Turkcell also provides GSM services internationally. It has 9.6 million subscribers via Fintur and its affiliates in partnership with TeliaSonera in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Moldova, as of September 30, 2007. Turkcell's Ukranian majority-held business, Astelit, has 7.6 million subscribers.

Coverage area

Turkcell provides coverage of an area that, as of March 31, 2007, includes 100% of the population living in cities of 3,000 or more people, 97.21% of the total population, and 80.44% of Turkey's land area.

Turkcell has international roaming agreements with 503 operators in 192 countries as of June 16, 2006. It claims to have more international GPRS roaming agreements than any other operator (203 operators in 81 countries as of August 5, 2005).

Hazır Kart

In March 1999, Turkcell launched a prepaid service named "Hazır Kart" (English Translation: "Ready Card") for subscribers with lower spending levels, or who preferred to have more incoming than outgoing calls. Hazır Kart subscribers have access to all Turkcell's global GSM services.

ponsorship

Turkcell has been the "Official Communication Sponsor" of the national football and basketball teams since 2002. It also sponsors 14 of the 18 football teams in the Turkish Turkcell Super League. The "Turkcell Football Awards" project was initiated in 2003 to encourage "fair play" by awarding athletes who show fairness, impartiality, and solidarity.

Turkcell also sponsors the Istanbul International Film Festival and co-sponsors the Istanbul International Jazz Festival. Since 1999, Turkcell has supported the restoration of the ancient city walls in Bodrum. The last phase of the project, the restoration of an ancient theater, was completed in June 2003.

Turkcell has also continued to sponsor the [http://www.cebitbilisim.com CeBIT Bilişim Eurasia] event, one of the major information technology fairs in Europe, for the tenth time in 2007.

Turkcell's main educational project, "Contemporary Girls of Contemporary Turkey", which started in 2000, grants scholarships to 5,000 young women in less developed parts of the country. The project received international recognition in June 2001, when it won the UK "Institute of Public Relations Excellence Award" and the "Crystal Obelisk Award" from the Foundation of Women Executives in Public Relations in New York in 2002.

References

* [http://www.turkcell.com.tr/en Turkcell homepage in English]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4524744.stm BBC News article about Telsim purchase, mentions details about Turkcell]
* [http://www.data.minsk.by/belarusnews/072008/340.html Turkey's Turkcell buys Belarus's BeST for $500 mln]