Turkey’s mobile internet economy worth $26 billion: Report

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s mobile internet economy rose 18 percent in 2016 when compared to 2015, reaching $26 billion, said a report released on Nov. 21.

The report by Google Turkey and consulting firm OC&C Strategy Consultants said this figure was equivalent to 4 percent of the country’s national income in 2016.

This figure will climb to 289 billion Turkish Liras ($73 billion) in 2023, equivalent to 5.2 percent of Turkey’s national income, the report predicted.

In 2015 Turkey’s mobile internet ecosystem valued 87 billion liras ($22 billion), equivalent to 3.7 percent of the country’s national income of that year.

Google’s mobile operating system Android contributed 54 billion liras ($13.6 billion) to the 2016 figure, equaling to 2.1 percent of Turkey’s national income for the year.

The report also added that the Android economy will grow in 2023 and reach 3.5 percent of Turkey’s national income.

Mobile phone applications play a major role in increasing the number of internet users in Turkey, as the mobile phone penetration rate is very high.

Mobile and broadband subscribers rose by 23 percent in the same period, reaching 62.2 million.

The report noted that in 2016, 68 percent of mobile phone users had smartphones.

Mobile data traffic grew by 92 percent since 2013 and reached 102 million gigabytes in 2016. The growing number of smartphone users contributed to these figures.

In 2016, 13 million smartphones were sold in Turkey, the report said, adding that at least 10 million had Android operating systems.

Google’s Turkey Director Bülent Hiçsönmez said Turkey is one of the leading countries in mobile data usage.

Elif Koç, an executive of OC&C Strategy Consultants, said the high number of mobile users in Turkey supports the rise of data subscription.

PM vows to reach e-commerce volume worth $88.5 bln by 2023

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said on Nov. 21 that Turkey hopes to achieve an e-commerce volume worth $88.5 billion on the country’s 100th anniversary in 2023.

“Turkey aims for an e-commerce volume worth 350 billion liras on its 100th anniversary in 2023,” Yıldırım said at an international e-commerce conference in the southern province of Antalya.

“Our infrastructure needs to be equally developed everywhere in Turkey… Your wish to become an information society will mean nothing if there are huge differences between cities and villages in terms of infrastructure,” he also said.