Ukraine’s Time for life:) in 3G: Turkcell’s Subsidiary Wins 3G Tender

Turkcell’s (NYSE:TKC), (BIST:TCELL) subsidiary Astelit, which provides mobile communication services in Ukraine under the life:) brand, took a further step in providing the best experience to its customers. At the spectrum auction held today in Kiev, Astelit obtained the rights to offer 3G services in Ukraine.

Astelit won "Lot 1” - which possesses the most favorable frequency band in terms of investment and provision of high quality services – with its bid of 3,355,400,000 Ukrainian Hryvnia, roughly 118.4 million US dollars.

Astelit is aiming to launch 3G services in Ukraine 6 months after the acquisition of the license, and will cover regional centers in Ukraine in 3G within 18 months as required by the Ukrainian regulator.

Bringing Turkcell’s know-how to Ukraine for a new era of communication

"As Turkcell, we are proud to be a part of this important milestone in Ukraine‘s history through our subsidiary, mobile operator life:). The successful bid to obtain Lot 1 is proof of our deep commitment to Ukraine and to serving our customers with the best technology” said Ilker Kuruoz, Turkcell’s Acting CEO. "As a global leader in technology, Turkcell is looking forward to bringing its know-how and leadership to Ukraine on its journey to 3G.”

"On this historic day, Ukraine takes the first step towards a more dynamic and data-driven world of communication. We are proud to be a part of this historic moment.” said Erdal Yayla, Acting CEO of Astelit. "As Ukraine’s leading operator in smartphone penetration, we are in a unique position of contributing even more significantly to Ukraine’s journey to a whole new world of opportunities enabled by 3G. We are looking forward to introducing the new era of access to information and development through mobile technologies for the Ukrainian people.”

life:) , in which Turkcell is a 55% shareholder, serves 10.3 million subscribers in Ukraine as of the end of 2014. It has recorded 1.1 million year-on-year growth in subscriber number as of the final quarter of 2014, and currently has a market share of 18% after consistently growing its customer base over the years.

36% of life:) customers are smartphone users, making the operator the market leader in Ukraine in terms of smartphone penetration.

ABOUT TURKCELL: Turkcell is the leading communications and technology company in Turkey, with 34.6 million subscribers as of December 31, 2014. Turkcell is a leading regional player with its approximately 71.5 million subscribers in nine countries as of December 31, 2014. It was one of the first among the global operators to have implemented HSPA+. It has announced two new HSPA+ Technologies on its 3G network to meet rising data usage. Having successfully integrated 3C-HSDPA and DC-HSUPA Technologies, it became the first mobile operator in the world to enable peak speed of 63.3 Mbps downlink, while also enabling an 11.5 Mbps uplink on a 3G network. Turkcell Superonline, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Turkcell, is the first telecom operator to offer households in Turkey fiber broadband connection at speeds of up to 1,000 Mbps. As of December 2014, Turkcell’s population coverage is at 99.81% in 2G and 91.21% in 3G. Turkcell reported a TRY12.0 billion (US$5.5 billion) revenue with total assets of TRY23.7 billion (US$10.2 billion) as of December 31, 2014. It has been listed on the NYSE and the BIST since July 2000, and is the only NYSE-listed company in Turkey. Read more at www.turkcell.com.tr.