Vodafone Turkey is a mobile phone operator in Turkey, currently the country's second largest. It had 16 million active subscribers in March 2007 - approximately a 25% share of the market - and claims to cover just about all urban areas with a population over 5,000. Vodafone Turkey is also the owner of KKTC Telsim in Northern Cyprus. On December 13, 2005, it was announced that British-based mobile operator Vodafone had won a public auction to purchase Telsim, for a price of $4.5 billion. The old Telsim brand was phased out on 31 March 2007 in favour of Vodafone, in line with usual practice.... The company was founded by the Uzan Group in 1994 as Telsim, and remained the only alternative to the Turkcell until well into the 2000s. Uzan's mounting debts, particularly its international dispute with Motorola, led to the company being seized by the Turkish State Savings Deposit and Insurance Fund. Vodafone Turkey has roaming agreements with more than 500 GSM operators.
more