Data services compensate for slowdown in mobile growth in Turkey

The total number of mobile subscriptions in Turkey declined by more than 2 million to 61.5 million in the 12 months to June 2010.  Caused by combination of economic downturn, decline in multi-sim ownership and the introduction of lower termination rates and number portability. 

All 3 Turkish operators have launched lower cost, flat-rate voice and data services which have triggered a 74% surge in usage.   As a result, 3G now accounts for more than 1 in 10 mobile subscriptions in Turkey.

This week, Turkish group Turkcell has reported a 0.8% year-on-year revenues increase in 2010, breaking the TRY9 billion (US$5.62 billion) mark for the first time. Revenues were mainly boosted by the uptake of their data services. However, the different regulatory decisions such as decreasing mobile termination rates in its domestic market had a negative impact on EBIDTA, which decreased by 1% to TRY2.95 billion, bringing the margin down 0.6pp to 32.7%. The group ended the year with 60.4 million subs, a yearly decrease of 3.7%, as a result of fewer customers in Turkey from the decline in multiple-SIM ownership and prepaid cards, and in Ukraine as a result of change in subscriber definition.

Turkish and Eurasian operators will present on their strategies for capitalising on this data potential at Eurasia Com conference in Istanbul next month www.comworldseries.com/eurasia

Director General of the Communications Commission in Kenya confirmed for East Africa Com

Whilst the multitudes gathered for Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, there was - it could be said - a very low representation from emerging markets, and in particular from Africa. 

However, anyone interested in doing business in the lucrative African markets can rest assured that all of the leading lights of the East African telecoms industry will be in attendance at East Africa Com, Nairobi, 5-6 April 2011.

Last week the Director General of the Communications Commission in Kenya, Mr Charles J. K. Njoroge, confirmed he will give a speech on Wednesday 6^th April.  This is the 7^th annual East Africa Com conference and exhibition, and yet again there is unparalleled regional industry support.

See you there! www.comworldseries.com/eafrica

About Mr. Charles J.K. Njoroge

Mr. Charles J.K. Njoroge is the Director - General and CEO of the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK).  He was appointed to the position in July 2008. He was recently recognized as an Elder of the Burning Spear (EBS) by the President of Kenya.

Until his appointment, Mr. Njoroge, an Economist, was the Director in charge of Competition, Tariffs and Market Analysis.  In that position, he was responsible for economic regulation, which entails policy formulation; competition and market analysis; price regulation which includes tariffs and interconnection issues; universal access and funding and statistics.

Mr. Njoroge joined CCK on 1999 at its inception.  He previously worked for the defunct Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation as a Senior Telecommunications Economist.  His experience in the sector spans over 25 years.

Mr. Njoroge has spearheaded a number of seminal studies at CCK.  These include the Universal Access study which gave birth to the CCK’s Universal Access strategy in 2005, and set the foundation for the country’s international (TEAMs) and national (FONN) fibre optic connectivity.  He coordinated the carrying out of the Telecommunications Network Cost Study that saw the reduction of retail and interconnect rates for mobile telecommunications charges in the country.  He also oversaw the carrying out of an Internet Market study, which among others identified factors hindering the development of the Internet subsector in Kenya.  In addition he was instrumental in the set up of KENIC, the ccTLD, the KENET project and other initiatives such as the digitization of secondary education among others.

Mr. Njoroge holds an MA in Development Economics from Dalhousie University, Canada, a BA in Economics from the University of Nairobi, Kenya, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Telecommunications Regulation from University of Westminster, UK.  He holds a number of certificates from some of the leading training institutions from the US in the area of ICT Regulation and Management.