Turk Telekom swings to USD194m annual loss on currency drop

Integrated telco Turk Telekom posted an annual net loss of TRY724 million (USD194 million) in 2016 compared to a net profit of TRY907 million in 2015, due to the falling value of Turkey’s currency, it said in a statement to the local stock exchange (Borsa Istanbul). Confirming that ‘forex losses driven by Turkish lira depreciation against the dollar and euro’ caused the profitability plunge, Turk Telekom did, however, report that its total (fixed and mobile) revenues climbed by 10.9% to TRY16.10 billion, which it added was the highest annual growth rate since 2008. Group-wide subscribers reached 38.9 million following 1.5 million net additions during 2016, the highest annual net subscriber gain since 2008. Turkish news site Anadolu Agency (AA) notes that the Turkish lira lost 20% of its value against the US dollar in 2016 and fell a further 8% in the first few weeks of 2017.