Communications sector grows 32 percent in second quarter

ANKARA

The combined net sales revenues of the communications sector increased by 32 percent from a year ago to amount to 29.2 billion Turkish Liras, according to the Information and Communication Technologies Authority’s (BTK) quarterly report.

There were a total of 459 companies operating in the industry as of June.

Revenues of the four largest players in the market, Turkcell, Türk Telekom, Vodafone and TT Mobil increased from 16 billion liras in April-June 2021 to 21.4 billion liras in the second quarter this year, while revenues of other companies in the sector rose from 6 billion liras to 7.86 billion liras.

In 2021, those four companies collectively reported 67.2 billion in revenues, up from 57.6 billion in the previous year.

In the second quarter of 2022, the four largest companies’ investments amounted to 4 billion liras and the figure for other communications companies stood at 1.8 billion liras.

There were 88.5 million mobile phone subscribers in the country as of end-June and Türkiye ranked first in Europe in the second quarter in mobile phone usage, with phone calls at an average of 560 minutes per month.

Total mobile traffic increased by 5.4 percent from the previous quarter to 80.1 billion minutes and fixed-line traffic declined 7.7 percent over the same period to 1.2 billion minutes.

In terms of the number of subscribers, Turkcell was the market leader with a 41.3 percent share, followed by Vodafone at 30.9 percent and TT Mobil’s share was 27.8 percent in the second quarter.

The number of fixed-line users was 11.8 million.

Broadband usage

The number of broadband subscribers reached 89.5 million, including 71 million mobile phone and 18.5 million fixed-line users, and internet subscribers increased by 4.5 percent in the second quarter from the same period of 2021, according to the BTK report.

In 2008, there were only 6 million broadband users in Türkiye.

The authority also said 4.5G subscribers stood at 82.4 million but added that due to compatibility problems on their phones 63.2 million subscribers were actively using the service.

Mobile subscribers’ monthly broadband usage was 12.8 gigabyte on average, while the figure was 14.4 gigabyte for those with 4.5G compatible phones.

Türkiye increased the total length of the fiber optic network by 9.6 percent on an annual basis in the second quarter to reach 488,000 kilometers.

Revenues from internet providing services amounted to 4.9 billion liras in the second quarter.

Some 29 percent of broadband subscribers prefer packages that deliver 10 to 16 Mbps internet speed. Cable internet subscription declined by 0.9 percent in April-June from the first quarter to 1.4 million, the report said.