Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Turkcell
open-in-new
<h2 id="company-background">Company background</h2> <p>In February 1994, Turkcell started <a href="/facts/Turkey/KIYAWAs0">Turkey</a>'s first <a href="/facts/GSM/Sw8QYaLE">GSM</a> network. In Q3 2012, it had a market share of 52.4%. Its competitors were <a href="/facts/Vodafone/kjCgcHma">Vodafone</a> with a market share of 27.9% and <a href="/facts/Avea/fmfYePmg">Avea</a> with a market share of 19.7%.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> </p><p>Turkcell is the first Turkish company to be listed on the <a href="/facts/New_York_Stock_Exchange/XgSV32lk">New York Stock Exchange</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a> where its shares have been traded since 11 July 2000 along with trading on the <a href="/facts/Istanbul_Stock_Exchange/dRmE35U2">Istanbul Stock Exchange</a>. </p><p>Turkcell also provides GSM services internationally. It has 9.6 million subscribers via Fintur Holdings and its affiliates in partnership with TeliaSonera in <a href="/facts/Azerbaijan/Ho5joRTJ">Azerbaijan</a>, <a href="/facts/Kazakhstan/Vfs8NI6e">Kazakhstan</a>, <a href="/facts/Georgia_(country)/ccBF8bBE">Georgia</a> and <a href="/facts/Moldova/qGBNGewt">Moldova</a>, as of 30 September 2007. In 2009, they were the first company to get 3G services for their customers in Turkey.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a> In 2015, Turkcell completed the acquisition of a 44.96% stake in Ukrainian mobile phone operator <a href="/facts/Lifecell/DAPzHSmd">Life :)</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a> It had 13.6 million subscribers at that time.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a> </p><p>Turkcell also provides <a href="/facts/IPTV/tHqsXX6h">IPTV</a> service in Turkey.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12"><sup>12</sup></a> </p><p>In October 2020, TVF Bilgi Teknolojileri Iletisim Hizmetleri Yatirim Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. a subsidiary of Turkey Wealth Fund, the wealth fund of the Republic of Turkey, acquired control of 26.2% of Turkcell. 19.8% of Turkcell’s shares are controlled by the second-largest shareholder IMTIS Holdings S.a r.l., an entity in which Letterone Investment Holdings S.A. has an indirect economic interest. </p> <h2 id="coverage-area">Coverage area</h2> <p>Turkcell provides coverage of an area that, as of 31 March 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. The company has a few blind spots, especially in mountainous areas in the <a href="/facts/Eastern_Anatolia_Region/yTGF68uT">Eastern region</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13"><sup>13</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="northern-cyprus">Northern Cyprus</h2> <p>Turkcell also operates overseas. Its Northern Cyprus brand is known as Kuzey Kıbrıs Turkcell (North Cyprus Turkcell) which operates only in the <a href="/facts/Northern_Cyprus/8NvuJlvQ">Northern Cyprus</a>. KKTcell runs completely separately from Turkey's Turkcell, although the ownership of the network is the same. KKTcell is currently also the North's largest Network Provider in terms of registered users and network coverage. KKTcell numbers can be distinguished from Mainland Turkey Turkcell numbers easily, as KKTcell numbers begin with 90 (533) 8XX-XXXX. </p> <h2 id="roaming">Roaming</h2> <p>Turkcell has international roaming agreements with 605 operators in 201 countries as of September 2008. It claims to have more international <a href="/facts/GPRS/c4SJD7ov">GPRS</a> roaming agreements than any other operator (356 operators in 143 countries as of 31 August 2008). It also applies discounted roaming costs when calling from a Turkcell mobile to a KKTurkcell number. </p> <h2 id="sponsorship">Sponsorship</h2> <p>Turkcell has been the "Official Communication Sponsor" of the <a href="/facts/Turkey_national_football_team/cIgQ9f9G">national football</a> and <a href="/facts/Turkey_national_basketball_team/vCRNK5tn">basketball</a> teams since 2002. Turkcell was the main and name sponsor of the first Turkish football league, the <a href="/facts/S%25C3%25BCper_Lig/mrre0EW5">Turkish Super League</a>, from 2005 to 2010.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14"><sup>14</sup></a> It also sponsors 14 of the 18 football teams in the Süper Lig. The "Turkcell Football Awards" project was initiated in 2003 to encourage "fair play" by awarding athletes who show fairness, impartiality, and solidarity. </p><p>Turkcell also sponsors the <a href="/facts/International_Istanbul_Film_Festival/HnAyfSed">International Istanbul Film Festival</a> and co-sponsors the <a href="/facts/Istanbul_International_Jazz_Festival/t8Udb8J8">Istanbul International Jazz Festival</a>. Since 1999, Turkcell has supported the restoration of the ancient city walls in <a href="/facts/Bodrum/V4FmDb1l">Bodrum</a>. The last phase of the project, the restoration of an ancient theater, was completed in June 2003. </p><p>Turkcell has also continued to sponsor the CeBIT Bilişim Eurasia event,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15"><sup>15</sup></a> one of the major information technology fairs in Europe, for the tenth time in 2007. </p><p>Turkcell's main educational project, "Modern Girls of Modern 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 <a href="/facts/New_York_City/YlyvFmVC">New York City</a> in 2002. </p> <h2 id="criticisms">Criticisms</h2> <h3>Advertisement injection</h3> <p>Turkcell Superonline, one of Turkcell's subsidiaries and a major <a href="/facts/ISP/dUacAxef">ISP</a> in Turkey, has been criticized for injecting advertisements. The company has not responded to questioning about the injections. This event was described as the first evidence of traffic monitoring and manipulation in <a href="/facts/Turkey/KIYAWAs0">Turkey</a> with <a href="/facts/Deep_packet_inspection/NHd9q9zj">deep packet inspection</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16"><sup>16</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17"><sup>17</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="mtn-group-court-case">MTN Group court case</h2> <p>In May 2013, Turkcell dropped its multibillion-dollar US lawsuit against <a href="/facts/MTN_Group/MYLkm3BA">MTN Group</a>, citing a US Supreme Court ruling that hurt its case. The operator filed a $4.2 billion lawsuit in Washington in 2012 alleging the company used bribery to win a mobile license in Iran that was first awarded to Turkcell. The court delayed the case in October 2012 pending a US Supreme Court decision on the Alien Tort Statute, the U.S. human rights law on which Turkcell's suit is based.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:18" href="#fn:18"><sup>18</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="bip--messaging-voice-and-video-calling">BiP – Messaging, Voice and Video Calling</h2> <p class="note">Main article: <a href="/facts/BiP_(software)/lMsW6yzI">BiP (software)</a></p> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> Wikimedia Commons has media related to Turkcell. <ul><li><a href="http://www.turkcell.com.tr/en">Turkcell</a> official site (in English)</li> <li><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4524744.stm">Vodafone buys Turkish mobile firm</a>, <i><a href="/facts/BBC_News/oGAe2H8E">BBC News</a></i>, 13 December 2005</li> <li><a href="http://teknojon.com">Turkey's Turkcell buys Belarus's BeST for $500 mln</a></li> <li><a href="https://charlierose.com/videos/7282">Sureyya Ciliv</a> on <a href="/facts/Charlie_Rose_(talk_show)/7WJDcV7L"><i>Charlie Rose</i></a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Dolan, Asli Kandemir (17 March 2017). "Russia's Alfa Telecom bids $2.8 billion to double stake in Turkcell". Reuters. Archived from the original on 20 March 2017. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkcell-alfatelecom-idUSKBN0MD0LZ20150317" target="_blank">https://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkcell-alfatelecom-idUSKBN0MD0LZ20150317</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>"History". Turkcell. Archived from the original on 1 July 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2012. <a href="http://www.turkcell.com.tr/site/en/turkcellhakkinda/Sayfalar/genel-bakis/genel.aspx" target="_blank">http://www.turkcell.com.tr/site/en/turkcellhakkinda/Sayfalar/genel-bakis/genel.aspx</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Cinarli, Bilal. "Turkcell Group .:. Annual Report". investor.turkcell.com.tr. Archived from the original on 25 February 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2017. <a href="http://investor.turkcell.com.tr/2015/turkcell-group" target="_blank">http://investor.turkcell.com.tr/2015/turkcell-group</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>"Turkcell on the Forbes Global 2000 List". Forbes. Archived from the original on 9 September 2017. Retrieved 19 March 2018. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/turkcell/" target="_blank">https://www.forbes.com/companies/turkcell/</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>"YaaniTarayıcı". Turkcell (in Turkish). Retrieved 22 July 2021. <a href="https://www.turkcell.com.tr/servisler/yaani" target="_blank">https://www.turkcell.com.tr/servisler/yaani</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>"Turkcell'in Genel Müdürü Ali Taha Koç oldu". dunya.com. Dünya. 13 October 2023. Retrieved 6 November 2023. <a href="https://www.dunya.com/sirketler/turkcellin-genel-muduru-ali-taha-koc-oldu-haberi-707669" target="_blank">https://www.dunya.com/sirketler/turkcellin-genel-muduru-ali-taha-koc-oldu-haberi-707669</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>"Market Information". Turkcell. Archived from the original on 14 July 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2013. <a href="http://www.turkcell.com.tr/site/en/turkcellhakkinda/yatirimciiliskileri/Sayfalar/turkiyegsmpazari.aspx" target="_blank">http://www.turkcell.com.tr/site/en/turkcellhakkinda/yatirimciiliskileri/Sayfalar/turkiyegsmpazari.aspx</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>Dorsey, James M. (11 July 2000). "Turkcell's IPO Will Put Turkey On the Telecom and U.S. Maps". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB963261640537894876" target="_blank">https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB963261640537894876</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>"The race is on". Ericsson.com. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2018. <a href="http://www.ericsson.com/article/turkcell_1633598732_c" target="_blank">http://www.ericsson.com/article/turkcell_1633598732_c</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>"Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS: 26.6.2015 | Acquisition of the Shares of SCM Holdings Limited in Euroasia that Owns 100% of Astelit in Ukraine". Archived from the original on 29 June 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2015. <a href="http://www.twst.com/update/114817-turkcell-iletisim-hizmetleri-as-2662015-acquisition-of-the-shares-of-scm-holdings-limited-in-euroasia-that-owns-100-of-astelit-in-ukraine" target="_blank">http://www.twst.com/update/114817-turkcell-iletisim-hizmetleri-as-2662015-acquisition-of-the-shares-of-scm-holdings-limited-in-euroasia-that-owns-100-of-astelit-in-ukraine</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:11"><p>"Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS: 26.6.2015 | Acquisition of the Shares of SCM Holdings Limited in Euroasia that Owns 100% of Astelit in Ukraine". Archived from the original on 29 June 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2015. <a href="http://www.twst.com/update/114817-turkcell-iletisim-hizmetleri-as-2662015-acquisition-of-the-shares-of-scm-holdings-limited-in-euroasia-that-owns-100-of-astelit-in-ukraine" target="_blank">http://www.twst.com/update/114817-turkcell-iletisim-hizmetleri-as-2662015-acquisition-of-the-shares-of-scm-holdings-limited-in-euroasia-that-owns-100-of-astelit-in-ukraine</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:12"><p>"TV+: Dizi, Film ve Canlı TV Kanalları - İlk 7 Gün Ücretsiz Deneyi". tvplus.com.tr. Retrieved 29 May 2023. <a href="https://tvplus.com.tr/" target="_blank">https://tvplus.com.tr/</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:13"><p>Tom Brosnahan. "Turkish Mobile (Cell) Phone Companies". Archived from the original on 31 August 2015. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150831065314/http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/details/Communications/mobile_companies.html" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20150831065314/http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/details/Communications/mobile_companies.html</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:14"><p>"Turkcell Returns to Turkish Football's Super League with Sponsorship Deal". 19 October 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2021. <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151019005938/en/Turkcell-Returns-to-Turkish-Football%E2%80%99s-Super-League-with-Sponsorship-Deal" target="_blank">https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151019005938/en/Turkcell-Returns-to-Turkish-Football%E2%80%99s-Super-League-with-Sponsorship-Deal</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:15"><p>"CeBIT Bilişim Eurasia". Archived from the original on 25 March 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2014. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140325102828/http://www.cebitbilisim.com/en/index.php/" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20140325102828/http://www.cebitbilisim.com/en/index.php/</a> <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:16"><p>Gözütok, Ahmet. "Turkcell Superonline kullanıcılarını reklam izlemeye mi zorluyor?". donanimhaber.com. Archived from the original on 19 June 2017. Retrieved 19 June 2017. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170619141204/https://www.donanimhaber.com/operatorler--kurumsal-haberler/haberleri/Turkcell-Superonline-kullanicilarini-reklam-izlemeye-mi-zorluyor.htm" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20170619141204/https://www.donanimhaber.com/operatorler--kurumsal-haberler/haberleri/Turkcell-Superonline-kullanicilarini-reklam-izlemeye-mi-zorluyor.htm</a> <a href="#fnref:16" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:17"><p>Yagiz (25 September 2016). "İddia: Superonline kullanıcılarına izinsiz reklam gösteriyor". medium.com. Archived from the original on 19 June 2017. Retrieved 19 June 2017. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170619141143/https://medium.com/@anonrig/i%CC%87ddia-superonline-kullan%C4%B1c%C4%B1lar%C4%B1na-izinsiz-reklam-g%C3%B6steriyor-ba555360424" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20170619141143/https://medium.com/@anonrig/i%CC%87ddia-superonline-kullan%C4%B1c%C4%B1lar%C4%B1na-izinsiz-reklam-g%C3%B6steriyor-ba555360424</a> <a href="#fnref:17" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:18"><p>Turkcell withdraws U.S. lawsuit against MTN Group, International: Reuters, 2013, archived from the original on 5 May 2013 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130505091034/http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/05/01/us-mtn-turkcell-lawsuit-idUKBRE94014G20130501" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20130505091034/http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/05/01/us-mtn-turkcell-lawsuit-idUKBRE94014G20130501</a> <a href="#fnref:18" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>