Turkish telecom giant expresses interest in Pakistan spectrum auction

Turkcell set to send a high level delegation to study the Pakistani market closely.

BARCELONA: Turkcell, one of Turkey’s largest cellular mobile operator and recently awarded the “dream partner” global mobile award, expressed interest in the upcoming spectrum auction in Pakistan.

According to a press release issued by the government on Monday, State Minister of Information Technology Anusha Rahman met the top brass of Turkcell on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona where the finer points of the upcoming spectrum auction were detailed.

Rahman highlighted the upcoming auction for 3G and 4G, LTE spectrum provided enormous opportunity for any investor given that 98% of Pakistani population is yet to be connected with broadband services.

As an incentive, MoIT said spectrum in the 850MHz band has been made available for new entrants to provide them level playing field in addition to the 1800MHz band for speeding up the proliferation of 4G services in Pakistan.

Turkcell expressed keen interest in the auction and showed intent in sending a high-level delegation of Turkcell to visit Pakistan to study the market closely.

The Turkcell CEO Sureyya Ciliv shared initiatives which telecom giant had undertaken to disseminate e-services in Turkey, particularly in areas of e-health and e-education.

Despite its stock being downgraded from “buy” to hold on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, its Chairman Ahmet Akça said they consider Pakistan a flourishing market offering a potential for investment in telecom sector.

The meeting included Turkcell’s chairman, CEO, and business chief officer Dr Tayfun Cataltepe. The Pakistani delegation included the IT minister, IT secretary, PTA chairman, telecom member and FAB executive director.