TELKODER’s report reveals the 20 years of Turkish telco industry

Yesterday I was invited to the event  Serbest Telekom İşletmecileri Derneği. (Independent Telecommunications Operators Association – TELKODER). Having took place Harvard Cafe, the event aimed to unfold the 20 years of the Turkish telco industry. For that reason we were shared a report called The 20 Years of Electronic Communications Industry. (Turkish electronic communications industry started the liberalization in 2002)

Telco industry shrank in 20 years

The report stated that the industry decreased from 15 billion TL (around USD5.2 bio) in 2003 to 11.56 billion TL (around 3.98 bio) at the end of 2022 when the inflation effect is removed. The study pointed out that the industry’s ratio in GDP, which was 2.4% in 2002, decreased to 0.87% in 2022. (Here is my story regarding the growth of Turkish telco industry)

Here are some notes from the report:

The market shares of alternative operators other than established operators Türk Telekom Group, Turkcell and Vodafone remained at the level of 10 percent, and that rate is an indication effective competition in the sector has not been sufficiently established.

The most significant need in fixed, mobile, satellite communications, internet access, data centers, internet exchange points and cloud markets is a strong fiber infrastructure, and that fiber infrastructure forms the basis of communication technologies today. The work emphasized the fiber length of alternative operators increased by 1137% between 2008 and 2022, while Türk Telekom’s fiber length increase was limited to 250% in the same period.

Progress is fine, but more is needed

Halil Nadir Teberci, Chairperson at TELKODER, emphasized that although the sector has made significant progress in 20 years, there is still a lot of work to be done. “Fields such as high-speed broadband internet service, satellite communication services, data center management, cloud services and virtual mobile network service are some of the important areas that will shape the future of the industry,“ commented Teberci.

Photo: Halil Nadir Teberci, Chairperson at TELKODER