THE RACE - Ericsson

THE RACE
IS ON
Turkcell launches 3G in record
time and secures its leadership
in the Turkish market
success story
Turkcell, Turkey

apid
Rollout
CuSTOmER PROfIlE
Turkcell started its operations in February
1994, marking the beginning of GSM-based
mobile communication in Turkey. Since
then, it has continuously expanded its
variety of services, improved quality levels
and as a result increased its number
of subscribers.
3G rollout marked the next phase in
Turkcell’s evolution. Now with more than
35.4 million subscribers the operator leads
the market in Turkey and is the third largest
GSM operator in Europe in terms of
subscriber numbers. Turkcell is the only
Turkish company to be listed in both the
New York Stock Exchange and the Istanbul
Stock Exchange.
Website: www.turkcell.com/en
Turkcell is one of three operators
in the Turkish market and when
3G licenses were first awarded in
Turkey in November 2008, all three
operators applied for a license. As
part of the licensing agreement
the operators had just three
months to launch services to the
market. The official launch date
was finally set as 31st July 2009
and the race was on.
Turkcell’s challenge was to
evolve its network as fast as
possible to meet the deadline of
the licensing agreement and to
beat its competition. Ericsson’s
Network Rollout services played
an important role in enabling this.
Turkcell and Ericsson exceeded
the initial target of 1,480 sites with
a rollout of 2,000 sites in just four
months. As a result, when the time
came for the countrywide launch
Turkcell was able to make a head
start, implementing 20 percent more
sites than its closest competitor and
launching 3G services across all of
Turkey’s 81 cities. The network is
one of the first full HSPA+ enabled
mobile broadband networks in the
world and Turkcell now boasts the
best 3G services in the country with
speeds of 21 Mbps in the downlink
and 5.76 Mbps in the uplink.
Facing fierce competition
Due to regulatory restrictions, the
operators were not allowed to
take on any new subscriptions in
advance of the launch date. Neither
could they simply convert existing
GSM subscribers to 3G subscribers
as each individual had to proactively
apply for a 3G agreement. As a
result the three operators had to
work hard to attract consumers to
their networks.
Competition was high but backed
up by the widest coverage, fastest
network and an extensive marketing
campaign, Turkcell was able to
attract the majority of subscribers
within its coverage area. In just two
months the operator sold four times

By partnering
with Ericsson
we have been
able to gain
proven market
leadership in
the 3G domain.”
Cihan Nazmi Biyikli,
Radio Network Division Head,
Turkcell, Turkey

as many dongles as in the whole of
2008 and Turkcell now boasts 3.5
million 3G subscribers.
Users can now enjoy advanced
connectivity for the first time and
take advantage of the faster speeds
and capabilities that this brings. The
introduction of 3G in Turkey offers a
whole new selection of services and
take-up has been high. Arda Cetiner,
Account Manager, Radio Networks,
Ericsson adds: “In the first four
months Turkcell managed to grab all
the addressable population in terms
of subscribers with 3G handsets.
Now they are running marketing
campaigns to boost sales of 3G
handsets and increase the potential
subscriber base further.”
Proven leadership
An independent benchmark study
has been conducted to certify that
Turkcell is the leading 3G operator
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SE-164 80 Stockholm
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Turkcell managed to grab
all the addressable
population in terms
of subscribers with
3G handsets.”
Arda Cetiner,
Account Manager, Radio Networks, Ericsson
in Turkey. Cihan Nazmi Biyikli, Radio
Network Division Head, Turkcell,
Turkey explains the significance of
this: “By partnering with Ericsson we
have been able to gain proven market
leadership in the 3G domain. This has
been especially important to us from
a marketing point of view because
now we can really position ourselves
as the operator with the highest
quality network in the country.”
REAl ImPACTS
Turkcell has been able to take advantage
of the demand for 3G with the best HSPA
and browsing performance, the highest
network quality and the lowest dropped
call rates in the country. Turkcell is now
leading the way with infrastructure that
guarantees uninterrupted service even at
peak times.
OvERvIEw
CusTomer:
Turkcell, Turkey
CusTomer oBJeCTive
> Modernize the network
> Increase market share
> Improve profitability
eriCssoN soluTioN
> Network Rollout
> Systems Integration
> Training, tuning and overseeing of
the network
CusTomer BeNeFiTs
> Leadership in the new 3G market
> Increase in subscriber numbers
> Transformed perception in the
marketplace
To find out more about this article contact
Arda Cetiner
Email: arda.cetiner@ericsson.com
36/213 31-FGB 101 116 Uen A
© Ericsson AB 2010