TURKEY'S TELECOM INFRASTRUCTURE AND CONNECTIVITY

UNCLAS ANKARA 000395 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR EUR/SE, EB/IFD, AND EB/CIP USDOC FOR 4212/ITA/MAC/OEURA/CPD/DDEFALCO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECPS EINV TU SUBJECT: TURKEY'S TELECOM INFRASTRUCTURE AND CONNECTIVITY WEAK, BUT IMPROVING REF: A. 04 ANKARA 6484 ¶B. 04 ANKARA 6673 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY. ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The severing of a key fiber optic cable link with Europe shows continued weakness in Turkey's telecom infrastructure and connectivity. Turk Telekom's progress in building up alternative links appears to have lessened the impact of this outage, but the system remains vulnerable and lacking in back-up capacity. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) A key fiber optic cable passing under the Sea of Marmara to Europe was severed about two weeks ago, negatively affecting Turkey's international telephone and internet service from the state owned monopoly Turk Telekom. According to various sources, service capacity had been reduced 30-40 %. The cause of the cable break was unknown, but may have been caused by earthquake activity. One major Istanbul-based corporate user told EconOff that their internet connectivity had been down for a full day, and they still were not comfortable with reliable connectivity for their offshore IT functions. This user said they would keep their satellite connection as a back-up. Turk Telecom has been unable to tell users when repairs would be complete. ¶3. (SBU) This is not Turkey's first wake-up call for the need for greater alternative links to assure connectivity for international telecom users. Turk Telecom appears to have suffered less loss of service this time compared to the outage last year when an earthquake in Algeria disrupted internet access for nine days, including access blackouts for several days throughout Turkey. Turk Telecom has been investing in increased back-up capacity, but at the same time faces increasing demand. One Turk Telekom employee told EconOff that despite fears that high-speed ADSL users would face problems, in fact these users were experiencing minimal negative impact. He asserted that Turk Telekom was making needed improvements. He also claimed that - like in the U.S. - realization of full liberalization and competition would take time. ¶4. (SBU) Comment: The absence of reliable, affordable international telecommunications is one of the many impediments to increasing foreign investment and more fully integrating Turkey into the global economy. Increasing liberalization and competition, albeit slower than expected, in combination with potential privatization, is providing incentive for Turk Telekom to become more customer service oriented. A few companies are starting to compete with Turk Telekom for long distance and international service, but they rely on inter-connection to the Turk Telekom grid. Satellite service provides back-up for corporate users, but individual consumers must still rely on the monopoly infrastructure. End Comment. EDELMAN