Turkcell plans investment surge for new data center, 5G grid

Turkish telecom operator Turkcell TCELL.IS plans to ramp up investment this year to prepare its new data centre and grid for 5G services, the company’s chief executive Ali Taha Koc said.

The company pencilled in an amount equal to almost a quarter of its revenue this year for investments, Koc also said, adding that the main reasons for that are the data centre, solar power plant and 5G network preparation.

“The most important of them all is to be ready for 5G. We need to install fibre optic cables to base stations so that they can handle high capacity that is necessary for 5G. We need to prepare our infrastructure. We are heavily investing in our grid, that is why our capex is high,” Koc said.

Speaking to reporters late on Thursday, Koc also said they will look at the foreign investor interest for the planned initial public offerings of Superonline, Global Tower and Paycell.

Koc said the current market conditions do not pose an environment for the correct valuation of these units for a public offering. Reuters