Türk Telekom Explained

Türk Telekomünikasyon A.Ş.
Type:Halka açık Anonim Şirket
Industry:Telecommunications
Services:Fixed-line telephony, mobile telephony, internet, digital television, Wi-Fi
Revenue: 100.2 billion (2023)[1]
Operating Income: 33.5 billion (2023)
Net Income: 16.4 billion (2023)
Assets: 26,874 million (2016)[2]
Num Employees:33,224
Foundation: (as Postahane-i Amire) (current)[3]
Location City:Ankara
Location Country:Turkey

Türk Telekomünikasyon A.Ş. is a state-owned Turkish telecommunications company. Türk Telekom was separated from Turkish Post (PTT) in 1995.

Türk Telekom Group provides integrated telecommunication services for PSTN, GSM, and wideband Internet. The Türk Telekom Group companies had 16.8 million PSTN customers, 6 million ADSL customers and 12.1 million GSM customers in September 2009. With its network substructure covering the whole country, the group's companies offer a wide range of services to personal and corporate customers. Türk Telekom, which owns 99.9% of the shares of the companies TTNET, Argela, Innova, Sebit A.Ş. and AssisTT, is also the owner of 81% of the shares of Avea, which is one of the three GSM operators in Turkey. Türk Telekom also supports Albania's Albtelecom. 61.5% of the shares of Turk Telekom belong to Turkey Wealth Fund, while 30% of the shares belong to the Ministry of Treasury and Finance (Turkey). The remaining 15% of shares have been offered to the public in Borsa Istanbul.

In July 2018, in the course of the Turkish currency and debt crisis, Turkish and international banks took control of Türk Telekom due to billions of dollars in unpaid debt. Creditors set up a special purpose vehicle to acquire the company as they try to resolve Turkey's biggest-ever debt default.[4]

Between 2011 and 2021, the company was holding the naming rights to Ali Sami Yen Complex, home to the Galatasaray S.K.[5]

History

Subsidiaries

TTNET

TTNET is a turksih Internet service provider. The 2013 Annual Report states that TTNET has 6.3 million subscribers, 620,000 fiber subscribers, and 1.8 million TV subscribers.[7]

It provides ADSL, dial-up, Wi-Fi, G.SHDSL, ATM, Frame Relay, and Metro Ethernet Internet access services to corporate and personal customers in 81 cities in Turkey. TTNET became the first Turkish company to be accepted into the United Nations' "Business Call to Action (BCtA)" program, which seeks to encourage companies to "develop inclusive business models that offer the potential for both commercial success and development impact",[8] for its "Internet 4All initiative".[9]

Innova IT Solutions

Innova Bilişim Çözümleri A.Ş. delivers "solutions" to the institutions in every area, including distribution, finance, and telecommunications. With its services independent of the product and the brand, iNNOVA includes the entire consultancy-design-application development-integration-maintenance value chain.[10]

AssisTT

AssisTT is a customer service and call center company that also provides sales and marketing data.[10] Türk Telekom holds a 100% interest in AssisTT, which was established in November 2007. According to the 2013 Annual Report, as of the end of 2013, there were 115 million incoming calls (an 11% annual increase), which generated 360 million minutes of service time (a 13% annual increase).[11]

AssisTT is Turkey's largest call center and provides its services to other corporations and institutions in addition to its parent company Türk Telekom.[''[[Wikipedia:Citation needed|citation needed]]]

Argela

Argela Software and Information Technologies sells technologies and services for the telecom operators. 100% of the shares of the company, which had started its activities in 2004, belong to Turk Telekomunikasyon A.S..[''[[Wikipedia:Citation needed|citation needed]]]

AVEA

AVEA, the sole GSM-1800 mobile operator of Turkey, was founded in 2004. Avea, the youngest operator of Turkey, has a nationwide customer base of more than 12.5 million.[''[[Wikipedia:Citation needed|citation needed]]] Offering services to 95.4% of Turkey's population through its network,

Sebit

The activities of SEBIT Eğitim ve Bilgi Teknolojileri A.Ş. had started in 1988, in a multimedia laboratory founded within Turkey's Scientific and Technological Research Council (TÜBİTAK). The lab was privatized in 1996 and the production of computer supported education contents towards K-12 level. After the product “Akademedia” produced in 1998, Educational software with the brand “Vitamin” had been introduced. In the following years, “KidsPlus” products had joined the series. The company has a place in Chinese, Malaysian, American, and British markets.[''[[Wikipedia:Citation needed|citation needed]]]

It has been conducting the only integrated R&D project in the education area of the European Union’s 6th Framework Program. Active in corporate education, it has developed e-learning solutions for the institutions such as IES, Union of Banks of Turkey, Secretariat of Defense Industries, Public Procurement Agency, Coca-Cola, Migros, Siemens, and TTNET.[''[[Wikipedia:Citation needed|citation needed]]]

CETEL was incorporated by Çalık Enerji and Türk Telekom having 80% and 20% shares, respectively, on 1 June 2007. CETEL purchased the 76% shares of Albtelecom on 1 October 2007. Albtelecom is the incumbent fixed-line operator in Albania, which also has a GSM license. Cetel was incorporated as a special-purpose entity to acquire the 76% shares of Albtecom Sh.A, which is located in Albania and operates in the telecommunication industry.[12]

Controversies

Spyware injection

Citizen Lab has found out that a series of middleboxes on Türk Telekom’s network were being used to redirect hundreds of users attempting to download certain legitimate programs to versions of those programs bundled with spyware. The spyware Citizen Lab found bundled by operators was similar to that used in the StrongPity APT attacks. Before switching to the StrongPity spyware, the operators of the Turkey injection used the FinFisher “lawful intercept” spyware, which FinFisher asserts is sold only to government entities.[13]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Türk Telekom 2023’te sektörünün yatırım lideri oldu . 15 June 2024 . 18 April 2024.
  2. Web site: CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL REPORT 2016 . Türk Telekomünikasyon A.Ş. .
  3. Web site: Türk Telekom History.
  4. Web site: Banks Are Poised to Take a Majority Stake in Turk Telekom. 5 July 2018. Bloomberg.
  5. News: Türk Telekom ile Galatasaray arasındaki stadyum isim hakkı anlaşması sona erdi. Cumhuriyet. 5 October 2021.
  6. News: 2022-03-10 . Turkey's Wealth Fund signs deal to purchase 55% of Turk Telekom shares . en . Reuters . 2022-05-01.
  7. Book: Türk Telekom Annual Report 2013. 86 .
  8. Web site: About Us. Business Call to Action. 21 June 2014.
  9. Web site: TTNET: Increasing internet literacy among low income communities of Turkey. Business Call to Action. 21 June 2014.
  10. Book: Türk Telekom Annual Report 2013. 17.
  11. Book: Türk Telekom Annual Report 2013. 96 .
  12. Book: Türk Telekom Annual Report 2013. 184 .
  13. Web site: Bill Marczak, Jakub Dalek, Sarah McKune, Adam Senft, John Scott-Railton, Ron Deibert. BAD TRAFFIC. citizenlab.ca. 9 March 2018 . 11 March 2018.