Türk Telekom starts Fiber Mobility Era

By News Centre

Türk Telekom, the architect of Turkey's digital future with its investments reflecting its innovative solutions and technological know-how in all areas of life, announced its financial and operational results for the second quarter of 2024.

Directing the vision of a Turkey that produces and exports technology with its pioneering activities, Türk Telekom increased its consolidated revenues by 5% in real terms on an annual basis to 63.2 billion TL in the first half of 2024, demonstrating a performance in line with the expectations for the first half of 2024.

Continuing to receive positive outcomes from its strategies in the mobile field with its customer satisfaction-focused work and investments, Türk Telekom reached a historical record level with over 1.9 million mobile postpaid net subscriber gains in the last twelve months.

Türk Telekom, which has covered all 81 provinces of Turkey with end-to-end fiber networks, increased its fiber infrastructure length to 449 thousand km as of the second quarter of 2024. While the fiber network reached 32.4 million household coverage in the second quarter of 2024, Türk Telekom, which has a fiber-connected LTE base station rate of 52%, announced that it has started the Fiber Mobility era.

Türk Telekom CEO Ümit Önal said, “A new concept is now entering our lives and we are starting the Fiber Mobility era. We are becoming the pioneer of the Fiber Mobility era by transferring our power in the fiber field to mobile. Fiber Mobility is indispensable for having fiber in all cities of Turkey, not just one or two. Türk Telekom mobile customers are still benefiting from the opportunities of this technology. We will all see this benefit more clearly after switching to 5G. The world average of fiber-connected mobile base stations is expected to be 50% in 2030, while this rate is 52% for us today. We have a very strong hand both today and when 5G is put into use. ”

Türk Telekom announced its financial and operational results for the second quarter of 2024. Türk Telekom, whose consolidated revenues increased by 5 percent in real terms on an annual basis to 63.2 billion TL with its strong performance in the first six months of the year, saw its EBITDA increase by 22.2 percent in real terms on an annual basis to 23.9 billion TL . EBITDA margin improved by 530 basis points compared to the same period last year, reaching 37.8 percent. Türk Telekom's net profit in the first half of 2024 accelerated rapidly compared to the same period last year, including the effects of the earthquake, and reached 2.5 billion TL. Türk Telekom, which maintains its 2024 forecasts, is confident that its performance will help it comfortably reach its forecasts with further improvement in the last six months of the year.

As the leader of Turkey's digital transformation, Türk Telekom's total subscriber count reached 52.6 million as of the second quarter of 2024, and as a result of its ongoing efforts to provide high-speed internet in every corner of Turkey, the length of its fiber network increased to 449 thousand kilometers. The fiber network, which covered 32.2 million households as of the first quarter of 2024, reached coverage of 32.4 million households in the first half of 2024.

Türk Telekom CEO Ümit Önal, who evaluated the financial and operational results for the second quarter of 2024, said, “In the first half of 2024, our total subscriber count reached 52.6 million. The total subscriber count in our fixed internet product increased by 1.8% on an annual basis and reached 15.2 million. Our total fiber subscriber count reached 13.2 million with a net subscriber gain of 969 thousand in the last 12 months. In mobile, we increased our subscriber count to 26.3 million. We achieved a record net subscriber gain of 1.9 million in postpaid lines in the last 12 months. In the first half of 2024; we increased our consolidated revenues by 63.2 billion TL in real terms compared to the same period of the previous year. EBITDA was realized as 23.9 billion TL with a solid increase of 22.2% compared to the same period of the previous year, and the EBITDA margin was 37.8%. Our net profit for the first six months of 2024 accelerated rapidly compared to the same period of the previous year, which included the earthquake effects, and reached 2.5 billion TL. The total investment we have made since 2005 for the digitalization of our country has reached 20.7 billion USD. We are involved in every move that will carry our country forward in the technology race. In the upcoming period, we will continue to be the flag bearer of our country's technology exports with our activities in every field, from digital to infrastructure, from fiber to mobile, from customer experience to enterprises, with all our strength ,” he said.

“We are starting the era of fiber mobility”

Noting that they have knitted all 81 provinces with end-to-end fiber networks with the understanding of “Not just in one city but in every city of the country” , Türk Telekom CEO Ümit Önal said, “We are bringing together not one or two cities of Turkey but all cities with our strong infrastructure. As of the first half of 2024, our fiber network length has increased to 449 thousand km, while our fiber household coverage has reached 32.4 million. According to the fiber development report published annually by the FTTH Council, our country ranks second in Europe in fiber household coverage. Our postpaid subscriber increase in mobile continues to break records. A new concept is now entering our lives and we are starting the Fiber Mobility era. We are becoming the pioneer of the Fiber Mobility era by transferring our strength in the fiber field to mobile. Having fiber in all cities of Turkey is indispensable for fiber mobility. Türk Telekom mobile customers still benefit from the opportunities offered by this technology today. We will all see this benefit more clearly after the transition to 5G. According to Ericsson's study; "The ratio of mobile base stations connected to fiber is expected to be 50% globally by 2030, while 52% of our LTE base stations are already connected to fiber. We have a very strong hand both today and when 5G comes into use. We are very excited for this new era, the effects of which we will all experience together," he said.
Industry leader in mobile postpaid subscriber acquisition

Underlining that they have made significant progress in mobile and emphasizing that mobile makes the greatest contribution to revenue growth, Önal said, “With our customer satisfaction-focused approach and investments, we continue to receive positive outcomes from our sustainable strategy in mobile. Mobile postpaid net subscriber gains exceeded 1.9 million in the last twelve months, reaching a new historical record level. With this performance we demonstrated in the same period, we became the sector leader in mobile postpaid subscriber gains. The impressive 20% increase in mobile segment revenues similarly stemmed from a 2.4% average subscriber growth as well as a strong 14.8% ARPU growth, and we also achieved sector leadership in ARPU growth. As a result of our investments, we continue to strengthen our position in mobile in terms of coverage and capacity day by day. We had a strong quarter in mobile in every sense. The solid steps we have taken to manage our business processes, shape the sector and increase customer satisfaction constitute the main factors that pulled our first half performance in mobile upwards. With these gains, which are the result of our investments and accumulation over many years, we will continue to grow our mobile business line even further. “We have tripled our frequency ownership after the 4.5G tender. We are the market leader in the frequency per subscriber, which is important for speed, and in the 1800 Mhz frequency ownership, which is also critical for 5G. With our high-quality infrastructure and customer experience-focused strategy, we are very ambitious in the mobile business line as well as in fiber. We aim to increase our market share by continuing our strong growth momentum in this area,” he said.
“The solutions we produce are used around the world”

Önal, who stated that they lead Turkey’s vision of becoming a country that produces and exports technology with intensive R&D studies and collaborations that strengthen the local ecosystem, said, “As Türk Telekom, we are building Turkey’s digital future with our fiber and mobile networks, investments, and technology solutions. We are not only offering the latest technologies to our country at the same time as the world, but also working with all our might to export technology by focusing on production and innovation. We have further increased our activities in this field in order to become the technology carrier of not only our country but also the region. We have taken concrete and important steps in this regard in the first six months of 2024. The number of international patents of our group companies Argela and Netsia in the field of 5G and new generation broadband technologies has reached 71. We are the first operator in the world to use Netsia’s SEBA solution, which enables more efficient management of new generation fiber networks with artificial intelligence, on a live network. Our services, which we have integrated with SEBA, have exceeded 100 thousand homepasses. It has also started to be tested by leading operators in England, Germany, Brazil, and Taiwan. "We even made our first sale to Germany," he said.

“Türk Telekom’s infrastructure is Turkey’s infrastructure”

Önal said, “Türk Telekom means Turkey; we have repeatedly stated that 'Türk Telekom's infrastructure is Turkey's infrastructure'. There are those who insistently do not want to understand this fact. They have no other goal than commercial concerns. We are acting with the aim of taking fiber to every part of the country from the westernmost tip of our country to the easternmost tip, from the northernmost tip to the southernmost tip, to serve our people and nation. We have brought up many times that everyone should use this infrastructure that we have established and developed within the framework of our country's digital transformation vision. Today, there is fiber in Gökçeada, the westernmost tip of our country, and in I?d?r, the easternmost. Our service area is not limited to the centers of big cities only. In other words, we are not only in profitable places, we are in profitable places. However, we are on our own at most points. Moreover, we are not only on land. We are also in the seas with our submarine fibers that connect Turkey to each other and to the world. If you ask how all this happens, it happens with investment! I say it with pride, we are the company that invests the most in every field in our sector .”

“We are the most ready operator for 5G with our unrivaled fiber power”

Reminding that they have carried out pioneering work on innovative technologies, Önal stated that they have already carried out many works that have attracted attention in the 5G field such as the first live 5G match broadcast; the first online remote surgery supported by 5G; and the first autonomous tractor, and said, “With our unrivaled fiber power, we are the operator most prepared for 5G. Because the indispensable part of 5G is fiber, that is, the connection of base stations with fiber. On the other hand, 52% of our LTE base stations are already connected to fiber. We have been making all our investments compatible with 5G for years. If we were to switch to 5G tomorrow, we are the most prepared for this today. However, we are addressing our country's 5G journey from every aspect, 360 degrees, in a way that will provide added value to the country. We aim for our country to be a power that produces and uses domestic 5G technology in this regard. For this purpose, while continuing our collaborations with global technology giants, we also fully support the domestic ecosystem with our contributions to domestic technology initiatives and 5G formations.”