Vodafone Turkey agreed a deal with Borusan Holding to acquire Borusan Telekom, which is reported to have 3.000 corporate clients and is considered as an alternative telecom operator in corporate fixed communication market.
Signing ceremonial of the acquisition deal was held with the presence of Vodafone Turkey’s CEO Serpil Timuray and Borusan Holding CEO Agah Ugur. Timuray, who gave a speech during the ceremonial, stated that since the start of its operational activities in 2006 Vodafone Turkey has always been making long term investments with a goal of becoming a strong player in communication market, and it’s continuing its investments with this vision.
Stating that the agreement will reinforce Vodafone’s position in corporate communication market, Timuray said they will be able to meet different demands from companies. Underlining that Vodafone became the number one operator in corporate number portability in Turkey within the last 3 months, Timuray told that 20 companies within the top 500 companies in Turkey chose Vodafone as their strategic communication partner. Timuray added that the acquisition deal will be concluded after the approval of regulatory bodies.
On the other hand, during the ceremonial speech Borusan Holding’s CEO Agah Ugur stated that Borusan Holding entered telecommunication industry in 2000 considering this sector as the future’s generator of high value added services and continued that Borusan Telekom has marked a bright profile during these 9 years. Ugur stated that they were driven to choose between two options with the entrance of the “two big players” into corporate communication sector. According to Ugur they had to choose between being a boutique player and handing over Borusan Telekom to a bigger company that could play more effectively in the market. Agah Ugur concluded his speech telling Borusan Holding is aiming to grow in the other sectors it’s operating, namely energy, steel and logistic sectors.
Serpil Timuray answered the questions from press right after the ceremonial and told that Borusan brand will continue to operate for 1, 5 years. He stated that there will be a meeting about the assessment of situation then.
Agah Ugur also answered the questions from press and gave some operational information about Borusan Telekom. He stated that the firm had some $70M turnover and $18M active size of assets. According to the other numbers declared by Ugur, Borusan Telekom has approximately 1 billion minutes of voice traffic. Borusan Telekom started serving Long Distance Telephone Services in 2004 after gaining an “A Type” License and added fixed voice services to its portfolio in 2006.
Borusan Holding, which also owns a fiber-optic network infrastructure, is still employing about 150 employees.
