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