Telecommunication Infrastructure in Turkey

Phone lines

Turkey has roughly 9.5 lines per 1000 capita. According to a 10-year master plan prepared by the ex-PTT, approximately $12 billion will be spent for telecommunications infrastructure invest ments during the period 1993-2002. The bulk of this amount will be used to implement a digitalization program for the network, scheduled to attain a digitalization ratio of approximately 80 percent, and to increase telephone line density to 250 per 100 0 capita by the year 2002.

Fiber trunks

70% of inter-switch connections, both within the cities and between the cities, are fiber optics.
The cable TV networks are all fiber optics from end to end.

Submarine cables

Two cables connect the cities of Istanbul and Marmaris to Italy. The newer cable, installed in the 1980's, provided significant improvement in Turkey's international telephone services.

High speed lines and services

2, 8, 34 and 140 Mbits/s PDH, and 562 Mbits/s SDH systems are in use.
As of October 1995, Turkey did not yet have or use any ISDN, T1 or T3 lines.

Cellular systems

Two private GSM networks are in use:

• TÜRKCELL: a consortium of Ericsson, Finland Telecom, and Çukurova Holding.
• TELSIM: a consotium of Siemens and Uzan Holding.

Satellite systems

• TÜRKSAT-1B is Turkey's first fully-owned satellite to enter into service. It was launched in 1994 by an Ariane rocket. This satellite is coupled to an earth station located in Ankara.
• VSAT has long served the country's international telecommunication needs.
• Another TÜRKSAT satellite is scheduled for launch in 1996.

Cable TV

Only the major cities such as Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, Bursa and a few others, enjoy the presence of a cable TV network. These systems are still at the development stage, i.e., have not reached all households yet.

Cable TV is fully owned by Türk Telekom.

Private networks

Until recently, all telecommunications were state-owned. The first private telecom firms were the cellular networks. The telecom part of the ex PTT has just been separated from the postal service in 1995. It is expected to be privatized soon.

Telecommunications in dollars

Telecommunications Equipment in Turkey
	1993	1994 (est.)	1995 (est.)
Total Market Size	$650	$500	$600
Total Local Production	400	300	390
Total Exports	70	80	90
Total Imports	320	280	320
Imports from the U.S.	105	90	110

Telecommunications Services in Turkey
	1993	1994 (est.)	1995 (est.)
Total Sales	$2750	$3000	$3300
Sales by Local Firms	2335	2530	2770
Export Sales by Local Firms	400	450	500
Sales by Foreign-Owned Firms	140	130	140
Sales by U.S.-Owned Firms	40	35	40

Return to Main Menu for IT in Turkey

Next chapter: Privatization and Deregulation