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Attorney at the Brussels Bar-ICT Low & Managemenet- SMITH&PARTNERS Law Firm Brüksel Barosuna Bağlı Avukat-ICT Hukuk ve İdare SMITH&PARTNERS Attorney at the Brussels & Ankara Bars-International & EU Law- SMITH & PARTNERS Law Firm Brüksel ve Ankara BArolarında Avukat-Uluslararası Hukuk ve AB Hukuku-SMITH&PARTNERS Hukuk Bürosu Technology Market The Turkish Information Communication Technology sector has grown 11.7 per cent when compared with the year 2001, according to a new Turkish ICT study, based on a survey where the top 500 ICT companies were arranged according to sale incomes. In the year 2002, the mobile phone market showed a growth of 38.6 per cent. Turkcell is still the overall winner when it comes to count the biggest number of subscribers to mobile phone services, with the uptake of pre-paid card users up around 73 per cent. One forecast puts the number of Turkish mobile subscribers at 30 million by 2005. European Commission Regular Report on Turkey's Progress According to the 2002 Regular Report on Turkey's Progress Towards Accession, Turkey has made some progress since the last Report in the field of Telecommunications and Information Technology, but there's still a long way to go. Concerning the liberalization of the Telecommunications market, competition for fixed voice telephony will not be implemented before January 2004. In the fixed and mobile networks, penetration rates of about 28% and 27% respectively have been achieved. The percentage of the population with access to the Internet and of households with cable television connection unfortunately still are very low. The GSM market has further developed in Turkey. A regulation on the settlement of disputes concerning national roaming agreements between GSM mobile telephony operators was adopted in March 2002. National roaming has been an issue of court dispute between the Telecommunications Authority and the GSM operators Turkcell and Telsim, which object to providing national roaming service to the new market entrants Aria and Aycell. In the aftermath of the earlier privatization plans for Turk Telekom and due to the change in dynamics of the telecommunications sector, a Council of Ministers Decree empowering the revaluation of Turk Telekom has been approved in May 2002. In this respect a new Value Assessment Committee has been established for the revaluation. As of April 2003 a Council of Ministers Principal Decree has been passed which stipulates that the preparations as to the minimum 51 per cent block sale and IPO of the company will be undertaken simultaneously. The privatization strategy will be designed in the framework of the dynamics of the global and local telecom markets in due course. As regards the Regulatory Framework, a Decision of the Council of Ministers on minimum fees for licenses and general authorization for seven telecommunications services was adopted in October 2001. A regulation on the price cap method for the tariffs to be applied to Turk Telekom's telecommunications services was issued in January 2002. On licenses, a Regulation on principles and procedures for granting second-type telecommunications licences and general authorizations was adopted in February 2002. As regards numbering, a Decision of the Telecommunications Authority on the allocation of the emergency call number "112" and the international code "00" was adopted in March 2002. Further to the launch of eEurope+ in June 2001, policy studies and projects related to the Information Society have gained new impetus in Turkey, and resulted in the e-Turkey initiative. This initiative was developed with the support of the public, private and non-governmental sectors. Co-ordination is ensured by the Prime Ministry. A Turkey Informatics Council held its first meeting in May 2002. » Market Liberalization : Overall assessment With regard to market liberalization for mobile telephony, the refusal by the incumbent GSM operators Turkcell and Telsim to interconnect with new market entrants is a major obstacle to the implementation of the communautarian acquis in mobile communications. The present situation discourages potential investors from investing in the Turkish telecommunications sector. The adoption in March 2002 of the Regulation on the settlement of disputes concerning national roaming agreements between GSM mobile telephony operators was not sufficient, the relevant provisions of the Telecommunications Law of February 2000 need to be amended in order to solve this issue. On licensing, individual licences should be kept to a minimum in order to reduce obstacles to market entry. Special attention should be paid to the duration of licensing agreements, which as a minimum should include a review clause. It is not clear whether the Decision on License Fees of October 2001 is in line with the acquis, in that fees must be proportionate to the administrative cost of the service incurred by the Telecommunications Authority for the licensing activities. On the issue of tariffs, the implementation of the Tariffs Regulation of September 2001 and of the Price Cap Regulation of January 2002 raises a number of important questions. All operators having significant market power (SMP), in particular Turk Telekom, should introduce state-of-the-art cost-accounting systems with the objective of achieving cost-orientation of tariffs to the benefit of consumers. As regards numbering, call-by-call carrier selection and carrier pre-selection services are not available. No regulation exists for number portability in the landline and mobile telephone markets. The single European Emergency Call Number "112" has only been implemented for calls to public hospitals. All elements of numbering should be taken into consideration in the current review of the national numbering plan. Although there is no regulation for universal service in Turkey, this concept was introduced as "minimum service" in the existing legislation. It is recommended that in drafting such a regulation on universal service obligations, the new Directive on universal service and users' right should be taken into consideration. The administrative capacity of the Telecommunications Authority is insufficient to cope with the requirements of a timely implementation of the acquis. Delays in the appointment of new members of the board have had a negative impact on the performance of the Authority. Although additional staff has been allocated to deal with the regulatory issues, there is still a lack of experience with legal and economic aspects of regulation. An independent national regulatory authority for the postal market has yet to be established. There are currently no plans in this respect. Major efforts are needed in this area to fully comply with the acquis. » Conclusion In its 1998 Report the European Commission concluded that the telecommunications sector had made considerable strides, particularly in the area of mobile telephony. The Commission stressed that the liberalization process had been slow, thus preventing the creation of the infrastructure needed to establish an Information Society in Turkey. Since 1998, Turkey has made some progress in preparing for the liberalization of the telecommunications market and adopting the necessary measures for the development of the mobile telephone market. Turkey should now focus further efforts on preparing for the liberalization of fixed voice telephony by 2004, providing for national roaming in mobile telephony, completing the regulatory framework in the field, protecting personal data, numbering and universal service and starting the liberalization of postal services. Interest in the Eurasian ICT sector has grown steadily in recent years. Full liberalization is in sight. Turkey is working hard towards the aim of building a genuine Information Society. With the support of the government, Turkey might as well become the next big thing in the region. ICT Türkiye araştırmasının sonuçlarına göre, Türk Bilişim sektörü, 2001 yılına kıyasla %11,7 oranında büyümüştür. 2002 yılında, mobil telefon piyasasında %38,6'lık bir büyüme kaydedilmiştir. Yapılan bir tahmine göre mobil telefon abonelerinin sayısı 2005'te 30 milyonu bulacaktır. 2002 Avrupa Komisyonu Türkiye İlerleme Raporu'na göre, Türkiye, Bilişim Teknolojisi'nde belli bir ilerleme sağlamıştır. Ancak daha kat edilmesi gereken uzunca bir mesafe vardır. Sabit ve mobil telefonların pazar payları sırasıyla %28 ve %27 iken, internete ve kablolu TV'ye erişim oranları ne yazık ki son derece sınırlıdır. Küresel ve yerel pazarların dinamikleri göz önüne alınarak belirlenen özelleştirme stratejisi sürdürülmektedir. E-Avrupa'nın Haziran 2002'de hayata geçirilmesi, Bilgi Toplumu yaratma yönündeki program ve politikaların ivme kazanması, e-Türkiye girişimi ile sonuçlanmıştır. Piyasanın serbestleşmesi konusunda, mevcut ortam, Türkiye'ye yönelmek isteyen potansiyel yatırımcıları caydırmaktadır. GSM operatörleri arasında ulusal serbest dolaşım anlaşmalarına ilişkin ihtilafların halli konusundaki Mart 2002 tarihli Yönetmelik yetersiz kalmıştır. Şubat 2000 tarihli Telekomünikasyon Yasasının ilgili hükümlerinin gözden geçirilmesi gerekmektedir. Ruhsat ve gümrük tarifesi uygulamaları da yine bu doğrultuda düzenlenmelidir. Telekomünikasyon Kurumu'nun idari kapasitesi müktesebatın gecikmeksizin uygulamaya konması için yeterli değildir. Düzenleme konularıyla ilgili yeni personel atamalarına karşın, ekonomik ve hukuki düzenlemeler açısından deneyim eksikliği söz konusudur. Avrupa Komisyonu 1998 raporunda, Türkiye'nin telekomünikasyon sektöründe, özellikle de mobil telefonların liberalizasyonu alanında çok ciddi adımlar attığı sonucuna varmıştır. Türkiye şimdi de 2004'e kadar sabit hatların liberalizasyonu için hazırlıklarını tamamlamalıdır. Son yıllarda Avrasya ICT sektörüne duyulan ilgi giderek artmıştır. Bu itibarla, Türkiye tam bir Bilgi Toplumu yaratmak için çabalarını sürdürmektedir. |