Privatization and Deregulation in Turkey

Traditional telephone

The telephones in Turkey have not yet been privatized, though the PTT was split in May 1995 into two independent entities, namely Türk Telekom and the postal service. Türk Telekom, the sole owner of the traditional telephone network is expected to be privatized in the near future; the law was voted, but the firm has not yet gone public.

Deregulation is not yet on the government's agenda.

Cellular telephone

The GSM cellular telephone apperared in Turkey at the end of 1993. It was born private, but is highly regulated.

Cable television

The cable networks in Turkey were developed the Turkish PTT, and are today fully owned by Türk Telekom.

Radio and television

Until 1989, TRT, the Turkish Radio and Television commission, enjoyed monopoly over Radio and TV. A private network by the name of Star 1 took advantage of a gap in the law to start broadcasting via satellite in an absolutely legal manner. Slowly, with the complicity of some local municipalities, and in order to reach the citizens who had no satellite dish, Star 1 started broadcasting through land transmitter stations. It is worth noting that the network was owned by politically powerful people. Other TV networks and Radio stations followed. The studios were often located abroad, and transmitted through satellite to relay stations stations in Turkey. The networks were absolutely unregulated, and thus could broadcast their free political opinions as well as late-night erotic programs without being subject to any censorship.

Realizing that the TRT was on the downhill, the government issued a decree prohibiting all non-TRT broadcasts. Many argued that the private Radio and TV stations were more legal than the decree itself, and the state's act was treated as a "democracy shame". A few months later, a new government was formed which allowed private Radio and TV stations to resume their operation. Tremendous losses had been incurred by the firms owning the networks, and so only the strong ones could start anew. The new government pressured the parliament to vote a law that eliminated state monopoly over Radio and TV, and set the ground for a regulation process.

The emerging telecommunications services market

The Turkish Ministry of Communications is planning to give licenses for value added services such as intelligent networks, cable-TV, pay phones, paging systems, data networks, etc. GSM cellular-type revenue sharing agreements previously signed wi th two foreign consortia will be converted into licensing agreements.

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