Turkey to Get Number Portability by Year-End

Turkey's telecoms regulator has announced that it will mandate mobile number portability to be launched in November this year. Tayfun Acarer, head of the Telecommunications Board told reporters that he expects the infrastructure should be in place within the next couple of months, but the service would not launch immediately to allow for testing.

The landline operators will also be required to offer number portability from April 2009.

The dominant mobile operator, Turkcell has been fighting the launch of number portability and the recent 3G auction was thrown into chaos when Vodafone and Avea refused to take part in the auction until mobile number portability was introduced. With the launch confirmed, it is presumed that the regulator may take a second attempt at auctioning off the remaining three 3G licenses.

Turkcell dominates the local market, controlling some 60% of customer base according to figures from the Mobile World analysts. Vodafone is second with 26% and Avea trails with just 14%. The country has nearly 54 million mobile phone users, which represents a market penetration level of 76%.

Posted to the site on 1st May 2008