Turkcell FY2011 revenues rise 4.1% to TRY9.37bn; net income plummets 33%

Istanbul-based telecoms group Turkcell has reported group revenue TRY9.37 billion (USD5.34 billion) for the twelve months ended 31 December 2011, representing a 4.1% rise year-on-year. EBITDA dropped 1.2% year-on-year to TRY2.91 billion, whilst net income slumped 33.2% from TRY1.76 billion in 2010 to TRY1.17 billion. Turkcell places the blame for the drop in net income squarely at the feet of its Belarusian operation Belarusian Telecommunications Network (BeST), which suffered from a series of one-off items and a currency devaluation during 2011. Excluding these items, Turkcell says that its group net income would have increased to TRY1.91 million in 2011.

In its domestic market Turkcell reported a 3.0% annual increase in its mobile customer base, which climbed from 33.5 million to 34.5 million. The bulk of the net new additions were post-paid subscribers – up 15.8% to 11.7 million – whilst pre-paid subscriptions declined 1.7% to 22.9 million. Blended average revenue per user (ARPU) decreased 1.5% to TRY19.8 per month, while minutes of use jumped by 19.4% to 213.8 on the back of enhanced tariff offers. Meanwhile, the company’s fixed broadband subsidiary Superonline, which is in the process of rolling out a nationwide fibre-optic (FTTx) network, passed approximately one million homes at the end of 2011, and now extends 30,000km in total; as at end-December Superonline had notched up 261,000 FTTx subscribers. Superonline’s contribution to Turkcell group financials continued to improve, with the unit recording 37.4% y-o-y revenue growth, to TRY460.5 million.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, Astelit, in which Turkcell owns a 55% stake, ended the quarter with seven million ‘active’ subscribers, up from 6.1 million a year earlier, with the unit’s total subscriber base rising 600,000 to 9.7 million. Fintur, which has interests in wireless operators in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Moldova and Georgia, and in which Turkcell owns a 41.45% stake, ended September with 18.2 million customers, up 14.5% year-on-year.