On 28 April 2016, Turkcell’s Board of Directors announced that the company was initiating the process for an IPO of an undisclosed amount of equity in its infrastructure business Global Tower. Drawing upon discussions held at the Turkey roundtable at April’s TowerXchange Meetup Europe, we examine the Turkish market and Turkcell’s freshly announced IPO process.
The Turkish mobile market
As of December 2015 there were 73.6mn mobile subscribers in the Turkish mobile market, representing a penetration rate of 93.5%. On 9th April 2016, the Turkish Ministry of Transportation, Communication and Maritime Affairs announced that all villages in Turkey now have mobile coverage following the rollout of the government’s Universal Service Fund Network Mobile network which brought coverage to underserved populated rural areas.
