At a press conference announcing the performance of the mobile telecommunications giant, Turkcell CEO Süreyya Ciliv stated that 2009 had been a difficult year for the company, as its assets had lost value and it had faced fines from the Competition Authority totaling TL 36.1 million. The company was only able to raise revenues by 1 percent during the year, amounting to TL 8.9 billion.
In terms of regulatory difficulties, the firm was also faced with decreased interconnection fees -- fees charged by operators when they receive a call from another operator -- and a reduction in the maximum prices that could be charged, Ciliv said. Ciliv also announced that the number of minutes used by subscribers on a monthly basis increased by 40 percent compared to 2008, to 134.3 minutes. Turkcell currently has 35.4 million subscribers in Turkey and 62.7 million globally.
