Vodafone unveils Turkish investment plans

Turkey’s number-two cellular operator Vodafone says it plans to invest TRY1.3 billion (USD754 million) in 2009 as it attempts to turn around a poor performance in the final quarter of last year when revenues dropped 14.5%. A report from Reuters, which quotes state-run news agency Anatolian, says the investment will go towards growth, customer satisfaction and driving sales. 500 new sales staff will be hired to help the company attract subscribers. Vodafone claims to have spent USD1.5 billion in Turkey since taking over Telsim in 2006. It competes with two other players: market leader Turkcell and the smallest operator Avea. Both these firms saw customer numbers increase in the final three months of 2008 while Vodafone’s subscriber base dropped from 17.36 million to 16.72 million.