Turk Telekom adopts single brand with an eye on convergence

Turk Telekom has united its operations under a single brand to enable it to provide a "one-stop shop" for mobile and fixed voice, broadband and TV services.

In future, all services will be sold under "Turk Telekom", which will replace the formerly separate Avea, TTNet and Turk Telekom brands.

Avea has until now functioned as the group's mobile brand, and recently launched LTE Advanced (LTE-A) services on the market. Last April, Turk Telekom submitted a non-binding offer for the 10 per cent of the mobile operator that it did not already own.

As of Jan. 27, Turk Telekom subscribers will be able to access all services through a single store, call centre, web site and mobile application under the Turk Telekom brand. The company said the move is in line with global trends and enables it to meet the changing demands of its customers.

Speaking at a press event to mark the launch of the single brand, Turk Telekom CEO Rami Aslan said the company's fibre network would form the basis of its future mobile services.

"We will be the pioneer of change in the industry and the leader of 4.5G thanks to our fibre network and largest capacity of frequency packages in the 1800 MHz band, which is crucial for 4.5G technology and the largest frequency per subscriber," said Aslan, reported Hurriyet Daily News.

Avea competes on the mobile market with Turkcell and Vodafone Turkey, both of which also plan to offer LTE-A as well as 3G services. The three companies each won 4G licences following a tender process last August, when the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) invited bids for 20 frequency packages in the 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz and 2600 MHz bands. The operators had to commit to launching LTE-A as well as LTE networks.

Turkey's president Tayyip Erdogan has previously said that the country should bypass 4G technology and move straight from 3G to 5G.

For more:
- see this Turk Telekom release (in Turkish)
- see this Hurriyet Daily News article

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