BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
07/05/2008
Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. Reports Results for the First Quarter of 2008
ISTANBUL, Turkey, May 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Turkcell (NYSE:TKC,ISE:TCELL), the leading provider of mobile communications services inTurkey, today announced results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2008. All financial results in this press release are unaudited, prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") and expressed in US$ unless otherwise stated.
Please note that all financial data is consolidated and comprises Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S., (the "Company", or "Turkcell") and its subsidiaries and its associates (together referred to as the "Group"). All non-financial data is unconsolidated and comprises Turkcell only. The terms "we", "us", and "our" in this press release refer only to the Company, except in discussions of financial data, where such terms refer to the Group, and where context otherwise requires.
Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. Reports Results for the First Quarter 2008
Highlights for the First Quarter 2008
- Revenue increased by 21.6% to US$1,574.4 million compared to Q1 2007
(US$1,294.8 million)
- EBITDA* increased by 12.4% to US$577.0 million compared to Q1 2007
(US$513.3 million)
- Net income increased by 78.9% to US$486.8 million compared
to Q1 2007 (US$272.1 million)
- Turkcell's subscriber base grew by 9% to 35.1 million compared to Q1
2007 (32.2 million) as of March 31, 2008, although it decreased
slightly from Q4 2007
- Blended minutes of usage per subscriber ("MoU") increased by
17.2% to 73.6 minutes compared to Q1 2007 (62.8 minutes)
- Blended average revenue per user ("ARPU") increased by 9.1%
to US$13.2 compared to Q1 2007 (US$ 12.1)
- Astelit's revenues increased by 111% to US$90.2 million
compared to Q1 2007 (US$42.8 million) and recorded positive EBITDA* for
the third consecutive quarter
*EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure. See pages 12-13 for the reconciliation of EBITDA to net cash from operating activities.
- In this press release, a year on year comparison of our key indicators is provided and figures in parentheses following the operational and financial results for the first quarter 2008 refer to the same item in the first quarter of 2007. For further details, please refer to our consolidated financial statements and notes as at and for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 which can be accessed via our web site in the investor relations section (www.turkcell.com.tr).
Comments from the CEO,
"In the first quarter of 2008, our consolidated revenues increased by
21.6% to
The political uncertainty inTurkey coupled with the global economic volatility and a drop in consumer confidence has started to create a more challenging operating environment for us.
Furthermore, regulatory developments in October 2007 in the retail pricing area, which were unusual in nature and specifically aimed at Turkcell, limited our marketing campaigns until the end of February 2008, leading to a negative impact on our operations. However, continued growth in usage, the growing postpaid subscriber base and the contribution of our corporate business inTurkey were the main drivers for top line growth.
InUkraine, revenues of our subsidiary Astelit grew by 111% and we continued to gain market share, reaching 17.2%. Fintur operations grew 35.7% in the quarter compared to last year.
Our achievements despite a challenging operating environment are due to the focus, agility and strong execution of our employees and partners. 2008 will be a tougher year but we are well positioned and excited about winning against the competition, driving customer satisfaction and continuing to grow our business."
OVERVIEW OF THE QUARTER
The first quarter of 2008 has been a challenging period for us. The global macro economic environment combined with the the economic and political developments inTurkey resulted in a further decline in the Turkish consumer confidence and all these factors combined to impact the market we operate in.
During the period, we have not been able to implement some of the commercial offers and actions that we had previously planned as a result of the Telecommunications Authority's ("TA") decision with regard to the retail pricing area. We have been impacted by these regulatory developments since October 2007, and since then have made certain adjustments in our pricing structure and believe we are now in line with the TA's recent decisions. Despite the fact that uncertainties may still exist in our operating environment, since the end of February 2008 we believe we have regained our flexibility to an extent to introduce new campaigns and offers to be able to sustain our competitiveness going forward.
We believe the growth in the Turkish GSM market slowed down during the quarter due to the changing macro economic conditions. In light of the current trends, we expect the market growth this year to be at a slower pace than previously anticipated, and mobile line penetration should reach about 95% by the end of 2008. The pace of growth of our subscriber base may be at a slower rate compared to that of the market in 2008.
During the quarter, our competitors continued with their aggressive acquisition offers and community offers with a focus on the price perception of the subscribers, we continued to maintain our leading position in the market despite the increasing competition and regulatory pressure. We continued to underline our strong value propositions, in particular retained our premium and corporate customers, focused on growing our postpaid subscriber base, and further strengthened our sales channel. Our VAS revenues constituted 14% of our consolidated revenue in the first quarter of 2008 clearly underlining our technological leadership and our commitment to create best value added services for our individual and business customers.
Financial and Operational Review of First Quarter 2008
The following discussion focuses principally on the developments and trends in our business in the first quarter of 2008. Selected financial information for the first quarter of 2007, fourth quarter of 2007 and first quarter of 2008 is also included at the end of this press release.
Selected financial information in TRY prepared in line with the Capital Markets Board ofTurkey's standards is also included at the end of this press release.
Macro environment Information
Q1 Q4 Q1
2007 2007 2008 Q1 2008- Q1 2008-
Q1 2007 Q4 2007
% Chg % Chg
TRY / US$ rate
Closing Rate 1.3801 1.1647 1.2765 (7.5%) 9.6%
Average Rate 1.4024 1.1851 1.1898 (15.2%) 0.4%
INFLATION
Consumer Price 2.4% 4.0% 3.1% - -
Index
The Turkish financial markets have been negatively affected by the global economic concerns and rising local political tension during the last two quarters. The Turkish consumer confidence index further deteriorated during the period. Furthermore, the Central Bank ofTurkey revised its 2008 YE inflation expectation upwards to 9.3%.
Our results of operations and business and financial performance are affected by the macro economic environment and its impact onTurkey along with developments in the political and regulatory environment. Although, we will carefully monitor the developments impacting our operating environment to strive for future growth of our business, we may not fully prevent potential negative impacts that may arise due to future macro economic, competitive or regulatory developments.
Financial Review
Profit & Loss Statement
(million US$)
Q1 2008- Q1 2008-
Q1 2007 Q4 2007
Q1 Q4 Q1 % Chg % Chg
2007 2007 2008
Total revenue 1,294.8 1,807.6 1,574.4 21.6% (12.9%)
Direct cost of revenue (686.0) (849.2) (825.1) 20.3% (2.8%)
Depreciation and
amortization (188.7) (204.2) (192.5) 2.0% (5.7%)
Administrative expenses (52.4) (89.1) (72.2) 37.8% (19.0%)
Selling and marketing
expenses (231.7) (328.0) (292.7) 26.3% (10.8%)
EBITDA 513.3 745.4 577.0 12.4% (22.6%)
EBITDA Margin 40% 41% 37% (3 p.p) (4 p.p)
Net finance income / 25.6 (10.8) 209.4 718.0% (2,038.9%)
(expense)
Finance expense (51.1) (105.7) (15.9) (68.9%) (85.0%)
Finance income 76.7 94.9 225.3 193.7% 137.4%
Share of profit of 17.7 21.5 19.9 12.4% (7.4%)
equity
accounted investees
Income tax expense (100.6) (125.2) (126.3) 25.6% 0.9%
Net income 272.1 403.2 486.8 78.9% 20.7%
Revenue: In the first quarter of 2008 our revenues increased by 21.6% to
Our consolidated revenues decreased by 12.9% in first quarter of 2008
compared to Q4 2007 mainly due to increased usage incentives introduced by
the end of February 2008 and increased subscriptions to our incentivised
tariff options implemented in Q4 2007. Additionally, the one time positive
impact of the reversal of Avea invoices amounting to
Direct cost of revenue: Our direct cost of revenues including
depreciation and amortization increased by 20.3% to
In the first quarter of 2008, direct cost of revenue including depreciation and amortization decreased by 2.8% compared to the fourth quarter of 2007. However, the share of direct cost of revenue in total revenues increased to 52% from 47% in the fourth quarter of 2007. This mainly resulted from a higher Treasury share expense in the first quarter of 2008 due to a one-time treasury share reduction in the fourth quarter of 2007, higher interconnect costs (1.4%), wages and salaries(0.9%), and higher depreciation and amortization expenses (0.9%) as a percent of revenues.
Selling and marketing expenses: Selling and marketing expenses in the
first quarter of 2008 increased by 26.3% on an annual basis compared to the
same quarter of 2007 to
The proportion of selling and marketing expenses to revenue increased to 18.6% in the first quarter of 2008 from 17.9% in the first quarter of 2007.
Selling and marketing expenses decreased 10.8% in the first quarter of 2008 compared to the last quarter of 2007. This was mainly due to the slower campaign activities relative to Q4 2007 and decreasing selling expenses during the period. However, selling and marketing expenses as a percentage of revenues increased slightly from 18.1% to 18.6% due to slower revenue growth.
General and Administrative expenses: The year on year increase in general and administrative expenses was 37.8% in the first quarter of 2008 mainly due to an increase in wages and salaries as well as a 15% appreciation of TRY against US$ on average.
The share of general and administrative expenses in total revenues increased to 4.6% in the first quarter of 2008 from 4.0% in the first quarter of 2007.
General and administrative expenses in the first quarter of 2008 decreased 19.0% compared to the fourth quarter of 2007. This was mainly due to a decrease in wages and salaries due to an increase in bonuses paid to employees in Q4 2007. General and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenues remained at similar levels of 5%.
Share of profit of equity accounted investees: In the first quarter of
2008, our equity in net income of unconsolidated investees increased to
Our 50% owned subsidiary A-Tel, impacted two items in our financial
statements. A-Tel's revenue that is generated from Turkcell amounting to
Net finance income/(expense): Financial income increased to
Overall, our net financing income increased to
Income Tax Expense: The total taxation charge in the first quarter of
2008 increased by 25.6% year on year to
Out of the total tax charge in Q1 of 2008,
In 2008, we are liable to pay 20% corporate tax and the payments will be made on quarterly basis.
Income tax expense Q1 2008- Q1 2008-
(million US$) Q1 2007 Q4 2007
% Chg % Chg
Q1 Q4 Q1
2007 2007 2008
Current Tax expense (114.3) (114.7) (146.9) 28.5% 28.1%
Deferred Tax income
/(expense) 13.7 (10.5) 20.6 50.4% 296.2%
Income Tax expense (100.6) (125.2) (126.3) 25.6% 0.9%
EBITDA: EBITDA in the first quarter of 2008 increased 12.4% compared to first quarter of 2007. EBITDA margin decreased from 40% in the first quarter of 2007 to 37% in the first quarter of 2008 mainly due to an increase in our costs in line with our operational plans.
EBITDA in the first quarter of 2008 decreased 22.6% compared to the fourth quarter of 2007. EBITDA margin in first quarter of 2008 decreased to 37% from 41% in fourth quarter of 2007. This was mainly due to quarter on quarter decline in revenues as well as higher cost base as a percentage of revenue.
As a result of recent developments including the increasing political tension inTurkey, volatility of the Turkish economy and global macro concerns, combined with regulatory and competitive challenges in our market, which we had not fully anticipated before, we are revising our YE 2008 EBITDA guidance to be about 38% as opposed to suggested few percentage point lower forecast from YE 2007 margin.
Net income: We recorded 78.9% year on year growth in our net income
during the first quarter of 2008, with a net income of
The quarterly increase in net income of 20.8% in the first quarter of 2008 compared to the fourth quarter of 2007 was mainly due to an increase in translation gain despite an increasing cost base as a percentage of revenue. Net income margin increased from 22.3% in the last quarter of 2007 to 30.9% in first quarter of 2008.
Total Debt: Our consolidated debt amounted to US$646.1 million as of
March 31, 2008. Of this total amount, US$532.9 million was related to our
Ukraine operations.
Consolidated Cash Flow Q1 Q4 Q1
(million US$) 2007 2007 2008
EBITDA 513.3 745.4 577.0
LESS:
Capex and License (130.0) (274.3) (192.5)
Turkcell (75.0) (144.2) (97.4)
Ukraine (50.0) (76.8) (55.5)
Investment & Marketable
Securities 17.2 - (25.0)
Net Interest Income 63.3 67.2 83.6
Other (141.7) 31.9 (456.5)
Net Change in Debt (58.0) 10.6 7.5
Turkcell (58.0) - -
Ukraine - - -
Other - 10.6 7.5
Cash Generated 264.1 580.8 (5.9)
Cash Balance 1,862.7 3,095.3 3,089.4
Cash Flow Analysis: Capital expenditures in the first quarter of 2008
amounted to
Other cash outflows in first quarter of 2008 are mainly composed of temporary corporate tax payments belonging to the last quarter of 2007 and prepaid frequency usage fee paid for the whole year of 2008.
Consequently, our cash position at the end of the first quarter of 2008
is US$3,089.4 million.
Operational Review
Q1 2008- Q1 2008-
Summary of Q1 Q4 Q1 Q1 2007 Q4 2007
Operational Data 2007 2007 2008 % Chg % Chg
Number of total
subscribers (million) 32.2 35.4 35.1 9.0% (0.9%)
Number of postpaid
subscribers (million) 5.9 6.4 6.6 11.9% 3.1%
Number of prepaid
subscribers (million) 26.3 29.0 28.6 8.8% (1.4%)
ARPU (Average Monthly
Revenue per User),
blended (US$) 12.1 15.5 13.2 9.1% (14.8%)
ARPU, postpaid (US$) 32.2 40.3 37.4 16.2% (7.2%)
ARPU, prepaid (US$) 7.6 10.0 7.8 2.6% (22.0%)
ARPU, blended (TRY) 17.0 18.3 15.7 (7.7%) (14.2%)
ARPU, postpaid (TRY) 45.2 47.7 44.5 (1.6%) (6.7%)
ARPU, prepaid (TRY) 10.7 11.9 9.2 (14.0%) (22.7%)
Churn (%) 5.1 5.9 7.2 2.1pp 1.3pp
MOU (Average Monthly
Minutes of usage per
subscriber), blended 62.8 69.9 73.6 17.2% 5.3%
Subscribers: As of March 31, 2008, our total subscriber base totaled 35.1 million, representing a 9% increase compared to the first quarter of 2007. Gross acquisitions in the first quarter were strong with the highest level of net new postpaid subscriber acquisitions recorded in our history. On the other hand, due to the regulatory developments regarding the retail pricing and focus on maintaining high value generating subscribers, we have recorded less gross acquisitions and higher churn, as a consequence, recorded a net negative subscriber additions of approximately 220,000 during the quarter. Although currently it is difficult to assess the impact of the macro economic and political developments, it is fair to state that, so far, we have faced limited impact from these factors.
Churn Rate: Churn refers to disconnected subscribers, whether disconnected voluntarily or involuntarily. In the first quarter of 2008, our churn rate increased by 2.1 percentage points from 5.1% to 7.2% due to seasonally higher acquisitions in the previous quarters. As a consequence of the regulatory developments, there was a slow down in some of our churn prevention activities therefore involuntary churn of the low ARPU generating prepaid subscribers increased.
MoU: In the first quarter of 2008, our blended minutes of usage per subscriber ("MoU") increased on an annual basis by 17.2% from 62.8 minutes to 73.6 minutes. This can be attributed mostly to the positive impact of our campaign that we revised and relaunched at the end of February to incentivize usage as well as further utilization of our simplified tariff options launched in October 2007. Despite the increase we have achieved in our MoU, we believe regulatory developments regarding retail pricing led to a slow down on our segmented campaigns and to some extent, the developments in the macro economic and political environment, also had an unfavourable impact our subscribers' usage levels.
ARPU: Compared to the same quarter in 2007, our blended average revenue
per user ("ARPU") increased by 9.1% to
Regulatory Environment
On the regulatory front, our dialogue and efforts to clarify and adhere to the Telecommunications Authority's ("TA") October 2007 retail pricing decision - setting a lower ceiling for off-net calling prices for all operators and asking Turkcell to set its on-net prices to be not lower than its lowest call termination rate - continued. We had been in discussions with the TA seeking clarification of its decisions due to the high level of complexity involved and have taken actions to revise some of our tariffs and campaigns to comply with the TA's new policy where practical and to our best understanding. We have filed a lawsuit with the Highest Administrative Court inTurkey requesting the suspension and annulment of the aforementioned decision on the ground that the said decision is violating Telecommunications Law, Competition Law and the Concession (Licensing) Agreement between our Company and TA.
TA's decision negatively affected our ability to design and launch new campaigns, offers and consequently had a negative impact on our business and continued to have a negative impact in our first quarter 2008 results. During the first quarter of 2008, until the end of February, as a consequence of this decision, we slowed down the implementation of some of the mass offers and churn prevention activities that we initially planned for the related period. By the end of February 2008, we designed and implemented an alternative call termination scheme with a new pricing model, which provides tiered pricing levels for call termination charges. Based on this model, currently, our lowest call termination charge per minute is TRY0,003 and the highest is TRY0.136 depending on call volume, peak and off peak hours. At present, through this new model, we believe we are in compliance with the regulator's decision and we have regained our flexibility to introduce new campaigns and offers in line with our pricing and marketing strategies to our customers.
In addition, the TA revised Reference Call Termination rates for fixed and mobile operators during in April 2008. Based on the revision, our reference call termination charge of TRY0.136 has come down by 33% to TRY0.091 unless otherwise agreed between the operators. Although, we expect no major change on our interconnection revenues and costs on net basis as a percentage of revenue due to this downward revision, the impact of this revision is yet to be seen fully in the retail market. We believe that Turkey's fixed call termination rates are quite in line with European counterparts, however, mobile termination rates are already significantly below the European counterpart averages. For this reason, we believe mobile termination rates should not be brought down further; however, there can be no assurance that Telecommunications Authority will not make future actions to revise rates downwards.
Potential Investments
As part of our efforts to evaluate investment opportunities in the region, our Board of Directors decided to conduct necessary studies to submit a proposal in order to acquire a majority stake in Syriatel Mobile Telecom ("Syriatel") inSyria.
Additionally, our Board of Directors also decided to conduct the necessary studies to submit a proposal directly, or through one of our subsidiaries, to the shareholders of the Belarusian
Telecommunication Network ("BeST"), based in theRepublic of Belarus, to purchase the majority of its shares. We will inform the public when there are further developments on this front.
International Operations
Fintur
We hold a 41.45% stake in Fintur and through Fintur we hold interests in GSM operations inKazakhstan,Azerbaijan,Moldova, andGeorgia.
FINTUR Q1 2007 Q1 2008 Q1 2008- Q1 2007 Q108 Q1 2008
as of March 31 Subscriber Subscriber Q1 2007 Revenue Revenue Q1 2007
, 2008 (million) (million) %Chg (US$ (US$ %Chg
million) million)
Kazakhstan 3.9 6.5 66.7% 163.1 224.7 37.8%
Azerbaijan 2.5 3.2 28.0% 88.3 116.9 32.4%
Moldova 0.5 0.5 0% 11.4 14.4 26.3%
Georgia 1.1 1.4 27.3.% 34.9 48.0 37.5%
TOTAL 8.0 11.6 45.0% 297.7 404.0 35.7%
<end_table>
Fintur's operations recorded growth in revenues during the first quarter
of 2008 compared to the same quarter in 2007 and consolidated revenues of
Fintur reached
We account for our investment in Fintur using the equity method. Fintur's
contribution to income was
Astelit
Astelit, in which we hold a 55% stake through Euroasia, has operated in Ukraine since February 2005 under the brand "life:)".
During the first quarter of 2008;
- Astelit gained the largest market share in terms of net subscriber
additions during the quarter
- Astelit's market share increased to 17.2% from 11.5% in the highly
competitive Ukrainian market
- Astelit grew its revenue by 111% to US$90.2 million compared to the
first quarter of 2007
- Astelit continued to build on its positive operational trends and
recorded US$2.1 million EBITDA.
- Astelit's operational indicators remained strong with total subscriber
base growing by 62% to 9.4 million as of end of the first quarter of
2008
- Astelit's 3 month active subscriber base in its total subscriber base
grew to 62% from 58% as compared to the first quarter of 2007
The encouraging trends in Astelit's financial and operational performance continued in the first quarter of 2008. We currently expect that this positive performance will continue in the coming quarters.
Q1 2008 Q1 2008
Summary Data for Q1 Q4 Q1 - Q1 - Q4
Astelit 2007 2007 2008 2007 2007
%Chg %Chg
Number of subscribers
(million)
Total 5.8 8.8 9.4 62.1% 6.8%
Active (3 months)(1) 3.5 5.4 5.8 65.7% 7.4%
Average Revenue per
User (ARPU) in US$
Total 2.5 3.3 3.3 32.0% -
Active (3 months) 4.2 5.4 5.4 28.6% -
Revenue 42.8 82.3 90.2 110.8% 9.6%
EBITDA(2) (16.5) 2.7 2.1 112.7% (22.2%)
Net Loss (44.9) (34.8) (32.4) (27.8%) (6.9%)
Capex 50.0 76.8 55.5 11.0% (27.7)
Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
We believe that EBITDA is a measure commonly used by companies, analysts and investors in the telecommunications industry, which enhances the understanding of our operating results and assists in the evaluation of our capacity to meet our financial obligations. We also use EBITDA as an internal measurement tool and, accordingly, we believe that the presentation of EBITDA provides useful and relevant information to analysts and investors.
Beginning from the 2006 fiscal year, we have revised the definition of EBITDA which we use and we report EBITDA using this new definition starting from the first quarter of 2006 results announcement to provide a new measure to reflect solely cash flow from operations.
The EBITDA definition used in our previous press releases and announcements had included Revenues, Direct Cost of Revenues excluding depreciation and amortization, Selling and Marketing expenses, Administrative expenses, translation gain/(loss), financial income, income on unconsolidated subsidiaries, gain on sale of investments, income/(loss) from related parties, minority interest and other income/(expense). Our new EBITDA definition includes Revenues, Direct Cost of Revenues excluding depreciation and amortization, Selling and Marketing expenses and Administrative expenses, but excludes translation gain/(loss), financial income, income on unconsolidated subsidiaries, gain on sale of investments, income/(loss) from related parties, minority interest and other income/(expense).
EBITDA is not a measure of financial performance under IFRS and should not be construed as a substitute for net earnings (loss) as a measure of performance or cash flow from operations as a measure of liquidity.
The following table provides a reconciliation of EBITDA, which is a non-GAAP financial measure, to net cash provided by operating activities, which we believe is the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with IFRS.
Q1 2008- Q1 2008-
TURKCELL Q1 Q4 Q1 Q1 2007 Q4 2007
US$ million 2007 2007 2008 % Chg % Chg
EBITDA 513.3 745.4 577.0 12.4% (22.6%)
Income Tax Expense (100.6) (125.2) (126.4) 25.7% 1.0%
Other operating
income/(expense) 1.0 (17.4) 1.4 40.0% 108.1%
Financial income 5.3 0.1 3.2 (39.6%) 3100.0%
Financial expense (0.4) (18.4) (2.4) 500.0% (87.0%)
Net (decrease)
/A?A+ncrease
in assets and
liabilities (75.1) (27.1) (292.9) 290.0% 980.8%
Net cash from
operating activities 343.5 557.4 159.9 (53.5%) (71.3%)
Q1 2008- Q1 2008-
EUROASIA (Astelit) Q1 Q4 Q1 Q1 2007 Q4 2007
US$ million 2007 2007 2008 % Chg % Chg
EBITDA (16.5) 2.7 2.1 112.7% (22.2%)
Other operating
income/(expense) 0 0.2 0.1 N/A (50.0%)
Financial income 0.3 1.2 0.8 166.7% (33.3%)
Financial expense (9.8) (15.2) (9.1) (7.1%) (40.1%)
Net
increase/(decrease)
in assets and
liabilities 22.8 21.1 26.6 16.7% 26.1%
Net cash from
operating
activities (3.2 10.0 20.5 740.6% 105.0%
Turkcell Group Subscribers
We have approximately 47.6 million proportionate GSM subscribers as of March 31, 2008. This is calculated by taking the number of GSM subscribers in Turkcell and each of our subsidiaries and multiplying the number of unconsolidated investees by our percentage ownership interest in each subsidiary. This figure includes the proportionate rather than total number of Fintur's GSM subscribers.However, it includes the total number of GSM subscribers in Astelit and in our operations in theTurkish Republic of Northern Cyprus ("Northern Cyprus") because the financial statements of our subsidiaries inUkraine andNorthern Cyprus are consolidated with Turkcell's financial statements.
Q1 2008- Q1 2008-
Q1 Q4 Q1 Q1 2007 Q4 2007
Turkcell Group 2007 2007 2008 % Chg % Chg
Subscribers
(million)
Turkcell 32.2 35.4 35.1 9.0% (0.9%)
Ukraine 5.8 8.8 9.4 62.1% 6.8%
Fintur (pro rata) 1.9 2.6 2.8 47.4% 7.7%
Northern Cyprus 0.3 0.3 0.3 - -
TURKCELL GROUP 40.2 47.1 47.6 18.4% 1.1%
Forward-Looking Statements
This release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Safe Harbor provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release, including, without limitation, certain statements regarding our operations, financial position and business strategy may constitute forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as, among others, "may," "will," "expect," "intend," "plan," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe" or "continue."
Although Turkcell believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable at this time, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Given these uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us are expressly qualified in their entirety by reference to these cautionary statements.
For a discussion of certain factors that may affect the outcome of such forward looking statements, see our Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2007 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and in particular the risk factor section therein.
http://www.turkcell.com.tr
ABOUT TURKCELL
Turkcell is the leading GSM operator inTurkey with 35.1
million postpaid and prepaid customers as of March 31, 2008 operating in a
three player market with a market share of approximately 57% as of December
31, 2007 (Source: The Telecommunications Authority). In addition to
high-quality wireless telephone services, Turkcell currently offers General
Packet Radio Service ("GPRS") countrywide and Enhanced Data Rates for GSM
Evolution ("EDGE") in dense areas, which provide for both improved data and
voice services. Turkcell provides roaming with 579 operators in 197 countries
as of May 2, 2007. Serving a large subscriber base inTurkey with its
high-quality wireless telephone network, Turkcell reported
(1) Active subscribers are those who in the past three months made a transaction which brought revenue to the Company.
(2) EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure. See page 14 for the reconciliation of Euroasia's EBITDA to net cash from operating activities. Eurasia holds 100% stake in Astelit.
Source:
http://newsblaze.com/story/2008050713130800013.pnw/newsblaze/HIGHTECH/High-Tech.html
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