Turkey’s entry into a new era in telecommunications has been formalized with the launch of Netgsm as the fourth GSM operator to start accepting subscribers. Netgsm began welcoming customers this month with its unique “0510 22X XXXX” number series. Adem Öcal, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Netgsm, explained that the company will offer a wide range of services through the various licenses it obtained in 2009 from the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA) under the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure.
This new venture covers fixed telephony, virtual mobile network, internet service provider and communication infrastructure services. Öcal stated that they broke new ground in mobile telephony services by working on GSM core network infrastructures and started active service after the test period with the “0510 22X XXXX” number block obtained from the ICTA. It was also shared that Netgsm has reached around 200 thousand subscribers thanks to VoIP, SMS and internet services and has risen to the fourth place in the sector.
It was emphasized that Netgsm attaches great importance to R&D projects supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) in its infrastructure works. In this way, the company has an important competence and infrastructure in the electronics and software sectors. Öcal stated that the need for mobility brings with it the necessity to share base stations with other mobile operators, which increases the importance of virtual mobile network services.
It was stated that Netgsm performs subscriber registrations entirely electronically and that subscribers can easily subscribe via e-Government and applications on smartphones. Thus, customers were able to sign up for the service without visiting any physical dealer. Netgsm is positioned as the fourth largest player in the sector after Türk Telekom, Turkcell and Vodafone Turkey, and allows other operator numbers to be ported to Netgsm. The company aims to reach 3 million subscribers by the end of the year.
