Turkey: GSM Operators Opinions Differ Over MNP

Date Posted: 13 June 2008

Turkey is the only country that has no mobile number portability (MNP) in OECD countries (The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) even though the country has 61 million mobile-phone users.

When the MNP was issued by the Telecommunications Board in the Turkish GSM market at the beginning of 2007, Turkcell, which has the highest market share (approximately 60%) of the market, went to the court in order to stop MNP.

On the other hand, Vodafone and Avea, the country’s other two GSM operators, have been requesting MNP, adding that number portability will facilitate consumer choice and increase competitiveness in the market.

Turkey's highest administrative court rejected Turkcell’s claim, resultantly customers will be allowed to switch to a rival GSM operator and keep their number. It is expected that market share will be affected approximately by 10% and Turkcell will loose thousands of its customers with the implementation of MNP in the second half of 2008.

The table shows the monthly averages of 3 GSM operators in May. According to BrandIndex data, Turkcell is the market leader and shows high performance in all BrandIndex measures. Avea is the second and is followed by Vodafone according to index score averages. When the price factor is taken into consideration, Avea outpaced Vodafone with its score average on “Value”. Vodafone has better performance on “Corporate”, “Quality” and “Satisfaction” measures when compared to Avea.

At the start of the MNP period, the change in the trends of GSM operators’ brand perceptions and customer attitudes is the main concern for the telecommunication sector in Turkey.

Sedef Besen, BrandIndex Turkey

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