Galatasaray Mobile
Encyclopedia
Galatasaray Mobile or GS Mobile is a Turkish virtual cellular service provider owned by Galatasaray SK that uses the Avea
GSM network for coverage. The company slogan is "one team, one heart, one network".
"Avea" (A ve (and) A: Aria and Aycell) is one of three GSM
operators in Turkey
. It has been founded in 2004 with the merger of the two GSM operators Aycell (Turk Telekom
) and Aria (joint venture of Türkiye İş Bankası
(51%) and TIM
(49%)). TIM and Turk Telekom own 40% stake each and İş Bank Group holds 20%. In September 2006, Telecom Italia announces that, having received authorisation from the relevant Turkish authorities, the sale of 40.5% stake in Avea, held by subsidiary TIM International, to Turk Telekom, for a total of USD 500 million, has been finalised. Therefore, the current shareholder structure is 81% owned by Turk Telekom and remaining 19% by Is Bankasi. Its competitors, Turkcell
and Vodafone Turkey
, have both been founded in 1994 and use the GSM 900 frequency range while Avea uses the GSM 1800 range.
s (A map can be found on The GSM World Web Page). In contrast to Turkcell and Vodafone, Avea doesn't have an extension in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
and customers therefore roam on the Turkcell and Vodafone Turkey networks.
Being a merger of two networks, Avea suffers from the heterogeneity of roaming partners and customers with numbers beginning with 50 and 55 don't have the same list of roaming partners (see the list of roaming partners for 505 customers and the list of roaming partners for 555 customers for the different partners' lists). Avea also offers GPRS / EDGE / 3G roaming in multiple countries (see the list of GPRS roaming partners for 505 customers and the list of GPRS roaming partners for 555 customers).
(the leader of the Turkish GSM market) has lowered down its intra-network call rates by a third after the creation of Aria
, and halved all call rates when Avea has been launched.
Currently, customers pay between 0 and 0.35 Turkish Lira
s per minute for national calls and between 0.32 and 2.1 Turkish Liras per minute for international calls (for details, see The Avea Tariffs Web site); which roughly corresponds to respectively 0, 0.20, 0.19 and 1.1 euro
s per minute. The very common SMS
service costs between 0 and 0.06 Turkish Liras per SMS for national SMS messages, and 0.21 Turkish Liras for international ones (which corresponds to 0, 0.03 and 0.12 euros) (you can see the Avea Service Tariffs Web Site for details).
Avea
AveA , the sole GSM 1800 mobile operator of Turkey, was founded in 2004 and has reached a nationwide customer base of 12.4 million by the end of June 2009.TT&TİM İletişim Hizmetleri A.Ş...
GSM network for coverage. The company slogan is "one team, one heart, one network".
"Avea" (A ve (and) A: Aria and Aycell) is one of three GSM
Global System for Mobile Communications
GSM , is a standard set developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute to describe technologies for second generation digital cellular networks...
operators in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. It has been founded in 2004 with the merger of the two GSM operators Aycell (Turk Telekom
Türk Telekom
Türk Telekom is the formerly state owned Turkish telecommunications company. Türk Telekom was being separated from the Post Office in 1995. In November 2005 it was privatized to Oger Telecom....
) and Aria (joint venture of Türkiye İş Bankası
Türkiye Is Bankasi
Türkiye İş Bankası is Turkey's first public bank and premiere national financial institution, ranked 102nd in the “Top 1000 World Banks” survey of Financial Times' The Banker and 371st in the Forbes Global 2000 lists as of 2008, with a Gross Profit for the Year 2006 TRY 2,540 million and USD 6.8...
(51%) and TIM
Telecom Italia Mobile
TIM is Telecom Italia's mobile phone brand, and runs a GSM, EDGE, UMTS and HSDPA network in Italy and Brazil.In Europe, TIM is part of the FreeMove alliance.TIM Peru was sold to América Móvil and rebranded Claro...
(49%)). TIM and Turk Telekom own 40% stake each and İş Bank Group holds 20%. In September 2006, Telecom Italia announces that, having received authorisation from the relevant Turkish authorities, the sale of 40.5% stake in Avea, held by subsidiary TIM International, to Turk Telekom, for a total of USD 500 million, has been finalised. Therefore, the current shareholder structure is 81% owned by Turk Telekom and remaining 19% by Is Bankasi. Its competitors, Turkcell
Turkcell
Turkcell is the leading mobile phone operator of Turkey, based in Istanbul. The company has 34.1 million subscribers as of June 30th, 2011.- Company background :...
and Vodafone Turkey
Vodafone Turkey
Vodafone Turkey is a mobile phone operator in Turkey, currently the country's second largest. It had 16 million active subscribers in March 2007 - approximately a 25% share of the market - and claims to cover just about all urban areas with a population over 5,000. Vodafone Turkey is also the...
, have both been founded in 1994 and use the GSM 900 frequency range while Avea uses the GSM 1800 range.
Coverage area
The merging of two GSM operators has resulted in the need of redesigning the network architecture to extend coverage and to solve the issues created by the network load. Avea has been able to complete most of that process about one year after its creation, and currently covers a vast majority of Turkey's land area with more than 7,000 base stationBase station
The term base station can be used in the context of land surveying and wireless communications.- Land surveying :In the context of external land surveying, a base station is a GPS receiver at an accurately-known fixed location which is used to derive correction information for nearby portable GPS...
s (A map can be found on The GSM World Web Page). In contrast to Turkcell and Vodafone, Avea doesn't have an extension in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
Northern Cyprus or North Cyprus , officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus , is a self-declared state that comprises the northeastern part of the island of Cyprus...
and customers therefore roam on the Turkcell and Vodafone Turkey networks.
Being a merger of two networks, Avea suffers from the heterogeneity of roaming partners and customers with numbers beginning with 50 and 55 don't have the same list of roaming partners (see the list of roaming partners for 505 customers and the list of roaming partners for 555 customers for the different partners' lists). Avea also offers GPRS / EDGE / 3G roaming in multiple countries (see the list of GPRS roaming partners for 505 customers and the list of GPRS roaming partners for 555 customers).
Competitiveness
As the latest participant in the Turkish GSM sector, Aria, Aycell and Avea have been obliged to offer lower prices to attract a maximum number of customers. Consequently, TurkcellTurkcell
Turkcell is the leading mobile phone operator of Turkey, based in Istanbul. The company has 34.1 million subscribers as of June 30th, 2011.- Company background :...
(the leader of the Turkish GSM market) has lowered down its intra-network call rates by a third after the creation of Aria
Aria
An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment...
, and halved all call rates when Avea has been launched.
Currently, customers pay between 0 and 0.35 Turkish Lira
Turkish lira
The Turkish lira is the currency of Turkey and the de facto independent state of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The lira is subdivided into 100 kuruş...
s per minute for national calls and between 0.32 and 2.1 Turkish Liras per minute for international calls (for details, see The Avea Tariffs Web site); which roughly corresponds to respectively 0, 0.20, 0.19 and 1.1 euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
s per minute. The very common SMS
Short message service
Short Message Service is a text messaging service component of phone, web, or mobile communication systems, using standardized communications protocols that allow the exchange of short text messages between fixed line or mobile phone devices...
service costs between 0 and 0.06 Turkish Liras per SMS for national SMS messages, and 0.21 Turkish Liras for international ones (which corresponds to 0, 0.03 and 0.12 euros) (you can see the Avea Service Tariffs Web Site for details).