PDF (3,0MB) - Türk Telekom Investor Relations

Message fromthe ChairmanContributing to the development of Turkey through itsinvestments, Türk Telekom Group continues to createvalue for its shareholders with the strong financial andoperational performances.Being the leader incommunication andinformation technologies,Türk Telekom will focus onimproving service diversityand quality by continuing itsinvestments both in fixedand mobile segments.2012 was a year of significant achievements for TürkTelekom Group, the ICT market and the Turkisheconomy in general.With its strong economic fundamentals, Turkey’s creditrating was raised to investment grade; and Türk TelekomGroup’s consolidated investments exceeded 13 billion TLfor the last 7 years. As a result of our efforts to createvalue for our customers, we are today the investment andemployment champion of the industry. Our investmentsand capital commitments cover Turkey’s eighty one citieson a wide range of modern technology incorporating,a nationwide fiber network, mobile broadband andInformation Technology.The rapid developments in information andcommunication technologies inspire us to continueoffering innovation and convenience. Innovation supportsefficiency and productivity and convenience improvesthe quality of life for our customers both corporateand individual. Given that almost half of the worldpopulation is active on the Internet, and given that globalmobile user penetration is almost at 95 percent of theglobal population, we believe that the communicationtechnologies in Turkey will experience higher demand.Accordingly we continue our investments both on fixedand mobile technologies and we will focus on productdiversity and service quality. Last year especially, withour fiber investments, we covered millions of customerswith higher speed internet and IPTV technologies andconverged telecommunication services.With more than 37,000 employees nationwide, ourGroup continues to be one of the largest employers andhighest tax payers in Turkey. Last year particularly dueto the growth in our call center operations we offered jobopportunities to the young people all over the country.As the employment leader of the telecommunicationsindustry, around 10 thousand fresh graduates joinedTürk Telekom Group family during the last 5 years.We continue to invest in the future of the country bysupporting the young graduates in engineering andtechnology. We provide this dynamic population inTurkey with superior training and valuable lifetime careeropportunities.The key to our strategy is to unleash the huge potentialof Turkey for innovation and entrepreneurship. Ourvision is that of innovation-based convergence andcommunication services that galvanize the young talentin Turkey. Therefore, we will continue investing in R&D,innovative technologies and human capital.In parallel to achieving impressive operational resultsin 2012, we developed exemplary projects in socialresponsibility. We diligently work to help next generationshave better lives with our education, environment andsports projects that enrich the social life.Our Group is very proud to fully comply with theCorporate Governance Principles issued by the CapitalMarkets Board and appointed the independent boardmembers and established the required committeesunder the Board of Directors in 2012. Thanks to theimprovements made with the purpose of complyingwith corporate governance principles, Turk TelekomGroup continued to raise its corporate governancerating grade and achieved 8.8 over 10 in 2012. With thisachievement, we sustained our position as the first andonly telecommunications company in Istanbul StockExchange’s Corporate Governance Index.I would like to thank the Board of Directors and ouremployees for their contributions to a successful2012. We will continue creating more value for all ourshareholders, and will continue enhancing our existingachievements. We are committed to continue serving ourcustomers with the highest integrity and quality and withleading edge products and services.Mohammed HARIRIChairman26TÜRK TELEKOM ANNUAL REPORT 2012