Turkcell, Turkey’s largest mobile operator, is keen to share infrastructure with its domestic rivals to support 3G rollout in the country, Turkcell’s CEO hinted this week. According to a Reuters report, Sureyya Ciliv made the comments a day after Turk Telekom CEO Paul Doany suggested teaming up with another rival, Vodafone, as well as Turkcell, on 3G. Turk Telekom owns Turkey’s third-placed mobile operator, Avea. The report notes that all three operators are keen to begin 3G rollout after suffering several delays, but are also keen to keep investment costs down due to the economic situation.

However, it is unclear how 3G network-sharing in Turkey will affect the current deals the country’s mobile operators have already made with equipment suppliers. The report notes that Ericsson struck a deal with Turkcell in March to become its main 3G network supplier, while Avea said in April it had picked Ericsson, Huawei and ZTE to supply 3G infrastructure. Vodafone Turkey signed a similar deal with Huawei last December. According to Wireless Intelligence data, Turkcell leads the Turkish market with an estimated 36.6 million connections in 2Q09, followed by Vodafone (15 million) and Avea (12.4 million). All connections in the country are GSM-based.