In the beginning of 2007 TT launched its vision, mission and values, which were disseminated throughout the company offices. We also defined the strategic challenges of the company given the new competition trends and regulatory developments expected, and we analyzed the respective threats and opportunities for TT.
The most important event for 2008 will be our IPO. The government has decided to sell around 15 percent of its shares (from the currently held 45 percent), and accordingly we will publicly list the company on the Istanbul stock exchange. We shall aim to be of the top market capitalizations by end of the new year, as it will represent the largest public offering in the country and the region.
This past year was the performance commencement year, where we defined KPIs with all key areas of the company, and where we aimed to ‘measure’ performance and track progress. In 2008 we will activate the PMO in full and work altogether using modern project management techniques. This is crucial, as we undertake increasingly complex projects across many departments, not only inside TT but also involving Avea, TTnet in addition to Argela, Innova and IES. These recent IT company acquisitions will give much value to the company and one particular focus for 2007 is successful exporting of their products and services.
In terms of international expansion TT is now supporting Albatelecom in Albania who will launch their mobile service in the new year. We will also aim to bid for expansion in Central/Eastern Europe as well as Central Asian republics.
We have achieved good results with our voice tariff rebalancing in 2007, which was a very essential step ahead of the public listing of the company as although unpopular, it has material impact on the company valuation, since prospective investors will benchmark our ‘access deficit’ with similarly placed European operators.
In the new year we will offer our customers more choices and better value (to suit their calling needs) and we will launch some special international offers initially focusing on the markets with high Turkish population.
With broadband data we also achieved good results in 2007 and we will resume this success in the new year as a wholesaler. We will support competition through LLU and bitstream offerings, and will also offer to the TA to improve resale margins to ISPs other than TTNet in order to stimulate the market and improve competition. We will also work with the TA on a special ADSL offering for low income groups, complementing a voice social tariff idea.
In terms of sales support and customer care we are improving the organization and we expect big improvements next year with the Istanbul headquarter finalisation. Marketing and product development will be increased as we aim to launch over fifty products in the new year.
In scope of “Tatlya Balayalm” (Bad Debt) campaign launched in Jan 2007 for our customers at payment trouble with the purpose of collecting our receivables which are very difficult or impossible to be collected, we closed 463,000 cases.
In 2007 we succeeded in our recruitments for new graduates and will resume this success in the new year as well.
All large telecommunication companies have had their share of strikes after their privatisation and so now has TT. We believe the company is now stronger as we adapt to the market challenges and pay scale realities.
For HR, we will also continue to improve our training and development programmes and also our training facilities and computer programmes.
We have seen big steps in IT, and we will aim to finalize the critical projects in the new year, including billing, customer care system, ERP, revenue assurance and many other operational support and business support systems.
In terms of our network expansion and upgrading much has been achieved in 2007. We will continue this success in the new year particularly with the global contractors, in addition to the introduction of new products and services such as fixed/mobile convergence, IPTV and others. The new year 2008 will be the year for ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY and PRODUCTS.
We launched in 2007 our new advertisements and led major events throughout the country coupled with a comprehensive social responsibility programs focusing on education and innovation, in addition to culture and sports. We will continue in this direction, particularly ‘education and innovation’ which are the cornerstone of the economy at large.
2008 will be the pride year in Turk Telekom for ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY and PRODUCTS.
For the Turkish translation of this article, please click on Doany : 2008’in En nemli Olay Trk Telekom’un Halka Arz Olacak.
