Turkish telco, Turkcell has reported a drop of 3.7% in its 3rd quarter revenues compared to last year to TRY2.37 billion (US$1.6 billion). Compared to last year, revenue was negatively impacted by decreasing revenues from outgoing calls and the declining contribution of the groups consolidated subsidiaries, particularly Astelit and Inteltek. Group EBITDA dropped to TRY813.7 million (US$550 million) from TRY1,001.8 million a year ago. 

Group net profits decreased by 31.4% year on year to TRY496.8 million (US$335.5 million).

In Turkey mobile communication revenues continued to grow in the first nine months of 2009. However, mobile line penetration in the market decreased due to the declining multiple SIM card usage. In the third quarter, the postpaid subscriber base grew to 9.1 million with 482,000 net additions, while the total net subscriber loss was 338,500 compared to the last quarter.

CEO, Sureyya Ciliv commented: "In 2009, Turkish market was negatively impacted due to higher interconnection costs resulting from the unlimited flat rate offers triggered by competition. We have taken actions to minimize the impact of these challenges and are content to see signs of more rational behaviour beginning at the end of the quarter. During the third quarter, we also saw an improvement in operational results from our consolidated local and international subsidiaries."

"Overall, I am satisfied with our performance so far in 2009 and we remain confident and optimistic about 2010. Next year, we expect our revenues and EBITDA to benefit from improvements in the economic environment and consumer confidence combined with growth in our mobile broadband business, a more rational market, and the increasing profitability of our subsidiaries."