Vodafone asks for fair competition in 4G bid

Şebnem Turhan - BERLIN

It is good for Turkey to have a competitive telecommunications market and the company expects the same in the forthcoming 4G tender, Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao has said.

“The three biggest mobile operators are doing business in a competitive environment in Turkey, and this is good. Competition is the case in many markets across the world. It is of great importance for us to see healthy regulations and a competitive environment. In this vein, we want to see the same fair competition conditions in the forthcoming 4G tender,” he said at the Digitalizing Europe Summit.

Turkey welcomed 3G technologies around five years ago, and a tender to introduce 4G technologies is expected to be made in 2015 or later.

All mobile operators need to do business using fair competition rules, he said, but high taxes are blocking the way on the road to digitalizing the world.

Some 16 countries have started using 4G technologies in Europe, so Turkey is a bit late, Colao said.
“Turkey is important for Vodafone Group, being the group’s sixth largest market. We are very happy with the good results of 4G technologies in Europe and we are working hard to introduce our 4G technologies in Turkey,” he said.