In Turkey telecommunication services had been conducted by the Government. However in 2005 the provision of these services was privatized which brought chance for the other actors to enter into the telecommunications market for the provision of services forming part of the telecommunication market. However, Turkish Telecommunications Incorporation which was found after the privatization of the market, is still the sole actor of the market in relation to the land line services. The Article 47 of the Constitution provides that the State sets which public services are to be provided by private sector by enacting relevant Codes. In this respect the main legislation regarding telecommunication services to be provided in Turkey is The Telegraph and Telephone Law no. 406 (hereinafter it refers to "The Law No:406) per the provision of Article 47 of the Constitution. According to Law no. 406 the operation of telecommunication services and foundation of the telecommunication infrastructure are subjected to Law no.406.
As per the law no. 406 which provides general principles of the telecommunication services, trading in Turkish telecommunications market is regulated mainly by "Authorization Regulation on Telecommunications Services and Infrastructure" (hereinafter it refers to "Authorization Regulation") based on "The Law no. 406". The article 6 of the Authorization Regulation provides that the installation and operation of a telecommunication infrastructure is subject to obtaining a license from the Telecommunications Authority. The type of the license to be issued by the Telecommunications Authority depends on the activity to be conducted in the market. In this respect, there are four types of permissions provided under the Authorization Regulation namely: "Authorization Agreement", "Concession Agreement", "Telecommunication License" and "General Authorization".
Authorization Agreement means the agreement to be concluded by and between the Turkish Telecommunications Incorporation and the Telecommunications Authority with a view to regulating any rights, entitlements and obligations relevant to provision of all kinds of telecommunications services, including value-added services and operation of telecommunications infrastructure, as valid for a certain period of time to be justified by the Authority with regard to the current circumstances.
Concession Agreement means the agreement to be concluded by and between the Authority and the operator for provision of the telecommunications services and/or operation of telecommunications infrastructure laid down in the concession agreement. Telecommunications services to be provided and/or telecommunications infrastructures to be built up or operated by a limited number of operators on a national level are governed under a concession agreement to be signed with the Authority. The important thing which has to be paid attention is that according to Telecommunication Authority's decisions if there is a concession agreement between the Telecommunication Authority and the operator, after the termination of the agreement for any reason, the operator should assign the facility to the Telecommunication Authority or a company which is indicated by the Authority.
Telecommunication License differs in two types. If the services or the infrastructures are built up or operated by a limited number of operators on a regional or local level then the 1st Type Telecommunication License is to be granted. However if these services or infrastructures are the ones which need not be executed by a limited number of operators and falling under the Article 18 of the The Telegraph and Telephone Law no. 406 then the 2nd Type of Telecommunication License is required. These are the services such as mobile telephone, pager, data network, cable TV as counted in the Article 18 of the law.
General authorization means the overall regulatory procedure that authorizes operators, through the agency of the Authority, for provision of a certain telecommunications service, subject to general stipulations and a registration requirement at the Authority. Telecommunications services and/or telecommunications infrastructures to be built up and operated, which need not be executed by a limited number of operators and do not fall under Article 18 of the Telegraph and Telephone Law no. 406 are performed via registration under General authorization at the Authority.
When the Telecommunication Authority agrees to grant a license to one of the applicants, it issues a decision and publishes the decision on its website. Hence the telecommunication market is provided to be transparent and every actor may have the sufficient tools to monitor the other players of the market. The Telecommunication Authority also announces the companies which leave the market. Due to this strict regulation of the Telecommunication Authority which is open to the audit of the interested parties, Turkish Telecommunication market despite having rather a short history after the privatization, it is one of well functioning areas of Turkish economy.
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