Turkey’s largest mobile operator Turkcell is looking at making acquisitions in Eastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East as part of an expansion strategy, CEO Sureyya Ciliv said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires late last week. “Our team is looking at some other Eastern European countries, northern African countries as well as our Middle Eastern neighbours,” Ciliv said, noting Iraq, India and Pakistan as specific targets. The report notes that Turkcell competed for a mobile license in Iraq last year but pulled out when bidding passed US$800 million. “We won’t enter any market at any cost; it would have to be at the right price, ” Ciliv added. Turkcell has already made one major acquisition this year, acquiring an 80 percent stake in the Belarusian state-owned mobile operator Belarusian Telecommunications Network (BeST) for US$500 million in July.

Turkcell’s expansion plans are reportedly linked to slowing growth and increased competition in its home market of Turkey. “We think that our market-share will continue to go down as we face intense competition but what is important to us is our revenues and profitability going forward,” Ciliv said. According to Wireless Intelligence data, Turkcell had a 55 percent share of the Turkish mobile market with around 35.4 million connections by end of second-quarter 2008, ahead of Vodafone Turkey (17.4 million) and Avea (11.4 million).