Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri: Third Quarter 2017 Results

Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri: Third Quarter 2017 Results

“DIGITAL SERVICES LED TO ANOTHER SET OF RECORD RESULTS”

Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (NYSE:TKC) (BIST:TCELL):

• Please note that all financial data is consolidated and comprises that of Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (the “Company”, or “Turkcell”) and its subsidiaries and associates (together referred to as the “Group”), unless otherwise stated.
• We have three reporting segments:
  • "Turkcell Turkey" which comprises all of our telecom related businesses in Turkey (as used in our previous releases, this term covered only the mobile businesses). All non-financial data presented in this press release is unconsolidated and comprises Turkcell Turkey only figures, unless otherwise stated. The terms "we", "us", and "our" in this press release refer only to Turkcell Turkey, except in discussions of financial data, where such terms refer to the Group, and except where context otherwise requires.
  • “Turkcell International” which comprises all of our telecom related businesses outside of Turkey.
  • “Other subsidiaries” which is mainly comprised of our information and entertainment services, call center business revenues, financial services revenues and inter-business eliminations.
• In this press release, a year-on-year comparison of our key indicators is provided and figures in parentheses following the operational and financial results for September 30, 2017 refer to the same item as at September 30, 2016. For further details, please refer to our consolidated financial statements and notes as at and for September 30, 2017, which can be accessed via our website in the investor relations section (www.turkcell.com.tr).
• Selected financial information presented in this press release for the third quarter and nine months 2016 and 2017 is based on IFRS figures in TRY terms unless otherwise stated.
• In accordance with our strategic approach and IFRS requirements, Fintur is classified as ‘held for sale’ and reported as discontinued operations as of October 2016. Certain operating data that we previously presented with Fintur included has been restated without Fintur.
• In the tables used in this press release totals may not foot due to rounding differences. The same applies to the calculations in the text.
• Year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter percentage comparisons appearing in this press release reflect mathematical calculation.

THIRD QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

• Solid operational performance maintained
  • Data usage of 4.5G users at 6.0GB in Q317 representing 40% year-on-year growth
  • Total subscriber base at 37.2 million in Turkey expanding 7% year-on-year
  • Mobile ARPU¹ at TRY32.8 registering 11.2% rise year-on-year
  • Mobile multiplay customer share at 50.4%² on 22pp year-on-year growth, while multiplay with TV customers on the fixed side at 42.3%³
  • The Lifecell brand launched in Turkey, with the goal of fully meeting our customers’ communication and digital needs through mobile data and the digital platform
• Group revenues and EBITDA⁴ up 25.7% and 34.1%, respectively leading to 2.2pp improvement in EBITDA margin to 35.5%, the highest quarterly print since 2009
• Turkcell Turkey revenues up 23.5% with EBITDA margin of 36.1%; including consumer finance company, Turkcell Turkey revenues up 26.1% with EBITDA margin of 36.2%
  • Data and digital services revenues up 37.0%
• Turkcell International revenues up 22.7% with EBITDA margin of 26.9%
• Other subsidiaries’ revenues, comprising information and entertainment services, call center services and financial services revenues, up 74.9% with increased consumer finance company contribution
• Group net income virtually quadrupled year-on-year to TRY601 million, mainly on strong operational performance
• Second asset-backed security issuance completed with TRY100 million of consumer finance company receivables securitized in August
• Full year guidance maintained; revenue growth targeted at 21%-23%, EBITDA margin targeted at 33% - 35% and operational capex⁵ to sales ratio at 19%-20%⁶

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

(1) Excluding M2M
(2) Share among mobile voice users excluding subscribers who have not used their lines in the last 3 months
(3) Multiplay customers with TV: Internet + TV users & internet + TV + voice users
(4) EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure. See page 13 for the explanation of how we calculate Adjusted EBITDA and its reconciliation to net income.
(5) Excluding license fee
(6) Please note that this paragraph contains forward looking statements based on our current estimates and expectations regarding market conditions for each of our different businesses. No assurance can be given that actual results will be consistent with such estimates and expectations. For a discussion of factors that may affect our results, see our Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2016 filed with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and in particular, the risk factor section therein.
For further details, please refer to our consolidated financial statements and notes as at and for September 30, 2017 which can be accessed via our web site in the investor relations section (www.turkcell.com.tr).

COMMENTS BY KAAN TERZIOGLU, CEO

We've grown full throttle on our journey as a digital operator

Last quarter, we announced that Turkcell is now a “digital operator,” and communicated details of our digital services that play an ever increasing role in our customers’ lives. In the third quarter, Turkcell reached further milestones on its digital journey, while reinforcing its operational and financial results. Our digital services, which we continuously enhance with new features, are now used by one out of every two of our subscribers. We also launched Lifecell offers in Turkey whereby digital services and mobile data fully meet our subscribers’ communication needs. These offers are exclusively structured around mobile data. Customers’ appreciation of our added value has contributed to a subscriber base expansion for five consecutive quarters, along with strong financial results.

Growth of over 20% for four consecutive quarters

In the third quarter, Turkcell Group recorded 25.7% revenue growth with an EBITDA margin of 35.5%. Group net income virtually quadrupled year-on-year to TRY601 million.

In the first nine months of the year, Turkcell Group revenues rose 26.6% to TRY13.0 billion, while EBITDA¹ increased 38.2% to TRY4.5 billion on a 34.6% EBITDA margin. Thereby, we registered all-time-high revenue and EBITDA in the first nine months. With these results, which are in line with our plans, we reiterate our 2017 full year guidance; revenue growth targeted at 21%-23%, EBITDA margin targeted at 33%-35% and an operational capex² to sales ratio targeted at 19%-20%³.

New digital brand exclusively delivered through mobile data

As the pioneer operator in digital services, we marked another first in Turkey in the quarter. We launched our Lifecell brand and accompanying plans in Turkey in September, having originally introduced it in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Accordingly, we have begun to offer plans that fully meet our customers’ communication needs, including calls and messaging, entirely through mobile internet and the digital platform. Lifecell plan subscribers can conduct voice and video calls and send instant messages through BiP, listen to music on fizy, watch movies on TV+, keep their memories safe in lifebox and get 7/24 customer service via BiP.

Our subscribers now enjoy digital services with new features

Beyond Lifecell, Turkcell digital services continue to enrich all users’ lives, including non-Turkcell customers. BiP, our innovative messaging, voice and video call application has reached 4.2 million active users, and now enables group video calls with up to six people. In addition, with the integration of payment systems in BiP, we have begun to offer paid-for services such as unknown number search. Our aim going forward is to increase such value added services.

In this quarter, another 10 million songs were added on fizy, Turkey’s most widely known and used local digital music platform. With 12.4 million downloads to date, the average daily number of songs listened to on fizy was 8 million.

On Dergilik, the most popular digital publishing platform, more than 120 thousand magazines and newspapers were read daily this quarter. Dergilik, with an increasing number of publications, features 335 magazines and 16 newspapers.

All of these digital services benefit from our superior 4.5G network where the population coverage has reached 84.12%. The data used by our 4.5G subscribers increased by 40% year-on-year to 6GB, while total traffic carried over our 4.5G network was at 42% of the total.

The Turkcell Turkey family has expanded by 2.4 million over the past twelve months.

During the quarter, we recorded 473 thousand net mobile subscriber additions, 201 thousand of which were post-paid. Total mobile subscribers reached 34.6 million. Over 50%⁴ of our customers in the mobile segment have preferred multi-play and actively used our voice, data and at least one digital service. In the fixed segment, total fiber subscribers reached 1.2 million on a 39 thousand increase, while multiplay with TV users rose to 42.3%⁵.

Our customers’ growing appreciation continued to reflect in our ARPU figures in the third quarter as well. Mobile ARPU⁶ rose 11.2% to TRY32.8 thanks to the rising share of postpaid customers and higher data and digital services usage on our 4.5G network, enabling a superior user experience. Fixed consumer ARPU was at TRY53.5 on 3.7% growth.

Digital transformation of the economy: Our new e-commerce platform is live

As digital services occupy an increasing space in our lives, a new need has emerged in the market. Our subscribers require secure authentication and payment systems for products and services consumed online. We have developed an e-commerce model to address this need in the fast-developing e-commerce market for both our own digital services and our corporate customers. Users can log-in to digital services securely through Mobile Connect, a GSMA supported ID verification technology that relies on GSM, that is easy-to-use. They can complete their online purchases easily and securely through Paycell and Turkcell Consumer Finance Company’s services.

Having launched this model in Piri (travel companion app) and the Turkcell Academy mobile app, we are now expanding it to the Fulltrip travel platform and the BluTV digital TV platform as of October. We aim to replicate this model with more of our corporate customers to foster growth of the e-commerce market in Turkey.

Additionally, we are confident that the native search engine we have launched today, Yaani, will make a difference for consumers and corporates with its ability to display results reflecting the usage habits of Turkey and to respond better to the Turkish language than its counterparts. With this, Turkey now has its own search engine, developed locally, and as Turkcell, we took a firm step towards the exponentially growing digital advertising market.

Investment in technologies that will shape the future

We reached a landmark in the internet of things, which we expect to be a building block of Industry 4.0 in the upcoming 5G world. We became the first operator in Turkey to support NB IoT (NarrowBand-Internet of Things) required for innovative new-generation applications. We rolled-out this technology throughout our nationwide 4.5G footprint. We believe that NB IoT technology, which enables real-time measuring, will positively impact a wide range of fields, from smart cities to healthcare, making a valuable contribution to our lives. Going forward, we will support the development of an ecosystem that produces innovative solutions using this technology, benefiting from Turkcell's infrastructure and know-how in the digital world.

Another area in which we continue to champion the development of our local ecosystem as a producer of technology is our primary support for locally-manufactured base stations. In this context, we marked another first with a live test of the locally-manufactured antenna of a 4.5G base station on our existing network.

This quarter, we also signed a protocol with Siemens to offer digital service solutions in the field of energy efficiency. This strategic partnership aims to develop digital service solutions for consumer and corporate segments alike for remote monitoring and control, to regulate energy consumption and increase efficiency, thereby decreasing energy costs.

Our humanitarian commitment is recognized on United Nations platforms

Turkcell’s support for sustainable and humanitarian development with its core business of telecommunication services was recognized on international platforms during the United Nations week, which gathered the leaders of all member nations.

United Nations Global Compact, the largest private sector sustainability platform, applauded Turkcell’s solution for one of the most urgent humanitarian tragedies of recent years, the Syrian refugee crisis. With our mobile application Hello Hope, which has been downloaded 550 thousand times since its launch a year ago, we were recognized as a Sustainable Development Goals Pioneer along with nine others.

During the UN week, we had the opportunity to present our services aimed at Syrian guests in our country, our work on universal coverage and expansion of fast broadband internet in Turkey, and our commitment to ensuring continuity of communications in times of disaster.

We reiterate our commitment to further ease the lives of the disabled by leveraging the power of mobile technologies. Our My Sign Language app addresses the communication barriers faced by the hearing impaired. We are proud to be among the pioneers in such efforts, and to have the opportunity to discuss them on international platforms.

We take this opportunity to once again thank our Board of Directors and the Turkcell team for their outstanding performance, dedication and compassion, which fully embodies the Turkcell spirit. We would also like to express our gratitude to our customers, who have continued to show their trust in us throughout our success story.

(1) EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure. See page 13 for the explanation of how we calculate Adjusted EBITDA and its reconciliation to net income.
(2) Excluding license fee
(3) Please note that this paragraph contains forward looking statements based on our current estimates and expectations regarding market conditions for each of our different businesses. No assurance can be given that actual results will be consistent with such estimates and expectations. For a discussion of factors that may affect our results, see our Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2016 filed with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and in particular, the risk factor section therein.
(4) Share among mobile voice users excluding subscribers who have not used their lines in the last 3 months
(5) Multiplay customers with TV: Internet + TV users & internet + TV + voice users
(6)Excluding M2M

FINANCIAL AND OPERATIONAL REVIEW

Financial Review of Turkcell Group

(1) Including depreciation and amortization expenses.
(2) EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure. See page 13 for the explanation of how we calculate Adjusted EBITDA and its reconciliation to net income.
(3) EBIT is a non-GAAP financial measure and is equal to EBITDA minus depreciation and amortization expenses.

Revenue of the Group rose by 25.7% year-on-year in Q317. This was mainly driven by the solid ARPU performance of Turkcell Turkey on the back of strong data and digital services growth, and customer base expansion.

Turkcell Turkey revenues, at 88% of Group revenues, grew by 23.5% to TRY4,044 million (TRY3,276 million).

• Mobile data revenues grew by 12.7% to TRY1,611 million (TRY1,430 million) due to rising smartphone penetration, larger number of data users and higher data consumption per user.
• Fixed data revenues rose by 26.6% to TRY341 million (TRY269 million) with the expanding customer base, increased share of multiplay customers with TV and upward price adjustments.
• Digital services revenues grew by 174.9% to TRY750 million (TRY273 million). This growth comes mainly from TV+, our digital publishing service Dergilik, music platform fizy, personal cloud service lifebox and other mobile services.
• Overall data and digital services revenues, comprising 67% of Turkcell Turkey revenues, rose by 37.0% to TRY2,702 million (TRY1,972 million).
• Wholesale revenues grew by 36.6% to TRY182 million (TRY133 million) due to increased carrier traffic and positive impact of TRY depreciation on FX based revenues.
• We reported revenues of TRY57 million originating from our Universal Service Project, which is aimed at building and operating infrastructure in unserved rural areas. Contractually, this project is financed by the Universal Service fund on a net cost basis.

Turkcell International revenues, constituting 6% of Group revenues, rose by 22.7% to TRY273 million (TRY222 million) mainly with the increase in lifecell and BeST revenues.

Other subsidiaries' revenues, at 6% of Group revenues, which includes information and entertainment services, call center revenues and revenues from financial services grew by 74.9% to TRY280 million (TRY160 million). This was mainly driven by the increase in consumer finance company’s revenues to TRY166 million (TRY62 million) in Q317.

Cost of revenue decreased to 63.8% (64.9%) as a percentage of revenues in Q317. This was driven mainly by the decline in depreciation and amortization expenses (1.6pp) and other cost items (0.4pp), despite the increase in consumer finance company funding costs (0.9pp).

Administrative expenses declined to 4.2% (4.8%) as a percentage of revenues in Q317.

Selling and marketing expenses dropped to 10.6% (12.8%) as a percentage of revenues in Q317, due to the decline in marketing expenses (0.6pp), prepaid subscriber frequency usage fees (1.1pp) and other cost items (0.5pp).

EBITDA ¹ rose by 34.1% year-on-year in Q317 leading to a 2.2pp improvement in EBITDA margin to 35.5% (33.3%). This was mainly due to a solid rise in revenues, and an effective cost transformation program. Cost of revenue (excluding depreciation and amortization) increased by 0.6pp, while administrative expenses and selling and marketing expenses declined by 0.6pp and 2.2pp, respectively.

• Turkcell Turkey’s EBITDA grew by 33.4% to TRY1,461 million (TRY1,095 million) with an EBITDA margin of 36.1% (33.4%) on 2.7pp improvement.
• Turkcell International EBITDA rose by 21.7% to TRY74 million (TRY60 million), which resulted in an EBITDA margin of 26.9% (27.2%).
• The EBITDA of other subsidiaries rose by 58.1% to TRY98 million (TRY62 million) with the increasing contribution of our consumer finance company.

Net finance expense of TRY165 million (TRY163 million) was reported in Q317. Lower translation losses in Q317 were offset by the decline interest income from contracted receivables and increased interest expense of loans.

Income tax expense increased 51.6% year-on-year in Q317. Please see Appendix A for details.

Net income of the Group rose to TRY601 million (TRY163 million) year-on-year in Q317, 3.7 times that of last year. This resulted from solid operational performance, effective currency risk management and cost control measures. Please also note that Q316 net income was negatively impacted by a TRY138 million provision booked to benefit from the tax amnesty.

Turkcell Turkey’s net income increased to TRY580 million (TRY145 million) in Q317 mainly due to the factors explained above with respect to the rise in Group net income.

Total cash & debt: Consolidated cash as of September 30, 2017 declined to TRY4,906 million from TRY4,995 million as of June 30, 2017. TRY2,773 million (US$781 million) of consolidated cash was denominated in US$, TRY979 million (EUR234 million) in EUR and TRY1,155 million in TRY and other local currencies.

Consolidated debt as of September 30, 2017 rose to TRY11,867 million from TRY11,197 million as of June 30, 2017. This was mainly due to the increased debt portfolio of our consumer finance company and the translation increase in the FX denominated debt portfolio of Turkcell Turkey, due to TRY depreciation against the US$ and EUR.

• Turkcell Turkey’s debt was TRY8,200 million, of which TRY3,567 million (US$1,004 million) was denominated in US$, TRY4,273 million (EUR1,019 million) in EUR and the remaining TRY359 million in TRY.
• The debt balance of lifecell was TRY528 million, denominated in UAH.

(1) EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure. See page 13 for the explanation of how we calculate Adjusted EBITDA and its reconciliation to net income.

• Our consumer finance company had a debt balance of TRY3,135 million, of which TRY837 million (US$236 million) was denominated in US$, and TRY421 million (EUR100 million) in EUR (Please note that the figures in parentheses refer to US$ or EUR equivalents).

TRY7,260 million of our consolidated debt is set at a floating rate, while TRY4,087 million will mature within less than a year.

Net debt as of September 30, 2017 was at TRY6,961 million with a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 1.2 times. Excluding consumer finance company consumer loans, our telco only net debt was at TRY3,160 million with a leverage of 0.6 times.

Turkcell Group’s short position was at US$330 million as at the end of Q317, thus within our comfort zone, which is below US$500 million as advised by our Board considering the size of our operations and balance sheet. (Please note that this figure takes into account advance payments and the impact of hedging).

Cash flow analysis: Capital expenditures, including non-operational items amounted to TRY938.1 million in Q317. The cash flow item noted as “other” in Q317 included mainly the negative impact of the change in working capital. The cash flow item noted as “other” in Q316 included the positive impact of decrease in advances given for fixed asset purchases (TRY210 million), prepaid expenses (TRY168 million) and other working capital (TRY431 million).

In Q317 and 9M17, operational capital expenditures (excluding license fees) at the Group level were at 16.9% and 15.7% of total revenues, respectively.

(1) EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure. See page 13 for the explanation of how we calculate adjusted EBITDA and its reconciliation to net income.
(2) The impact from the movement of reporting currency (TRY) against local currencies of subsidiaries in other countries is included in these lines.

Operational Review of Turkcell Turkey

(1) In Q117, our churn policy was revised to extend from 9 months to 12 months (the period at the end of which we disconnect prepaid subscribers who have not topped up above TRY10.) Additionally, under our revised policy, prepaid customers who last topped up before March will be disconnected at the latest by year-end. Please note that figures for prior periods have not been restated to reflect this change in churn policy. The net mobile subscriber addition figures and mobile churn rate for Q117 and Q217 disclosed in this document have been positively impacted by this change.

Our mobile customer base expanded by 473 thousand quarterly net additions in Q317, reaching 34.6 million in total. We recorded 201 thousand quarterly net additions to our postpaid customers, which comprised 53.0% (52.0%) of our total mobile customer base. Meanwhile, our prepaid customers grew by 271 thousand quarterly net additions. On a year-on-year basis our mobile customer base expanded by 1.9 million net additions.

Our fixed customer base reached 2.1 million on 49 thousand quarterly net additions, of which 39 thousand were fiber and 10 thousand were ADSL customers. Fixed customer base grew by 359 thousand net additions year-on-year. IPTV customers reached 467 thousand on 31 thousand quarterly and 143 thousand annual net additions. Total TV users, including OTT TV only customers, reached 1.8 million. The Turkcell TV+ mobile application has been downloaded 5.1 million times as of October 2017.

Mobile churn declined 0.7pp year-on-year with our value focused customer strategy, service quality, the attractiveness of our unique digital services portfolio and targeted retention campaigns. Fixed churn rate was at 5.2% (5.3%) in Q317.

Mobile ARPU (excluding M2M) rose by 11.2% year-on-year driven mainly by increased data and digital services usage, our upsell efforts, price adjustment and larger postpaid customer base. ARPU growth was also supported by the increased share of triple play customers, who use voice, data and digital services combined, to 50.4%¹.

Fixed residential ARPU rose by 3.7% year-on-year with the increase in multiplay customers with TV² to 42.3% of total residential fiber customers, along with upsell efforts and price adjustments.

Average mobile data usage per user rose by 61.5% year-on-year driven by increased usage of data and digital services offerings. Average mobile data usage of 4.5G users was at 6.0GB in Q317.

Smartphones on our network reached 22.1 million with 627 thousand quarterly net additions supported by the loans granted by our consumer finance company. This resulted in a penetration of 71%. 4.5G enabled smartphones reached 64% of total smartphones.

(1) Share among mobile voice users excluding subscribers who have not used their lines in the last 3 months
(2) Multiplay customers with TV: Internet + TV users & internet + TV + voice users

TURKCELL INTERNATIONAL

(*) Since July 10, 2015, we hold a 100% stake in lifecell.

Lifecell (Ukraine) recorded 1.2% year-on-year growth in revenues in Q317 in local currency terms, driven mainly by mobile data revenue growth based chiefly on increased 3G data users and higher data consumption. Overall revenue growth was impacted by the MTR cut from UAH0.23/min to UAH0.15/min, effective as of January 1, 2017. lifecell’s EBITDA in local currency terms rose 11.5% year-on-year leading to an EBITDA margin of 29.7% with a 2.8pp improvement due mostly to effective cost management efforts.

lifecell’s revenues in TRY terms rose by 16.1%, while EBITDA increased by 28.1% year-on-year in Q317.

(1) We may occasionally offer campaigns and tariff schemes that have an active subscriber life differing from the one that we normally use to deactivate subscribers and calculate churn.
(2) Active subscribers are those who in the past three months made a revenue generating activity.
(*) Since July 10, 2015, we hold a 100% stake in lifecell.

lifecell maintained its leadership in Ukraine in terms of 3G+ network geographical coverage. lifecell continued to grow three-month active 3G data users, which reached 3.8 million as at the end of the quarter. Meanwhile, data usage per 3G user posted 71% growth in Q317 on a year-on-year basis. lifecell continued to lead the market in terms of smartphone penetration, which reached 66% as at the end of Q317. Moreover, in July lifecell added the “lifebox” cloud service to its existing digital services portfolio including BiP and fizy.

lifecell’s three-month active subscriber base declined to 8.2 million, mainly due to the declining multiple SIM card usage trend in the country. Blended ARPU (3-month active) rose by 18.0% year-on-year in Q317 mainly on rising mobile data consumption and a greater number of customers with higher ARPU tariffs.

(*)BeST, in which we hold an 80% stake, has operated in Belarus since July 2008.

BeST revenues rose by 18.7% year-on-year in Q317 in local currency terms, driven mainly by growth in voice, mobile data and device sales revenues. BeST registered a 1.9pp EBITDA margin improvement to 6.5% (4.6%), mainly driven by top-line growth and better operational expense management. BeST’s revenues in TRY terms rose by 41.8% year-on-year in Q317.

BeST continued to expand its 4G services covering all regions as of September 2017. Increased coverage supported the growth of 4G users, which consequently led to higher data consumption and increased data revenues. Meanwhile, BeST continued to increase the penetration of its digital services within its customer base in accordance with Turkcell’s global digital services strategy.

(*) Kuzey Kıbrıs Turkcell, in which we hold a 100% stake, has operated in Northern Cyprus since 1999.

Kuzey Kıbrıs Turkcell revenues grew by 19.0% year-on-year in Q317 on the back of growing mobile data revenues. EBITDA rose by 3.6% leading to an EBITDA margin of 34.8% (40.1%).

Fintur has operations in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Georgia, and we hold a 41.45% stake in the company. In accordance with our strategic approach and IFRS requirements, Fintur is classified as ‘held for sale’ and reported as discontinued operations as of October 2016*.

(*)For further details, please refer to our consolidated financial statements and notes as at and for September 30, 2017, which can be accessed via our web site in the investor relations section (www.turkcell.com.tr).

Turkcell Group Subscribers

Turkcell Group subscribers amounted to approximately 51.3 million as of September 30, 2017. This figure is calculated by taking the number of subscribers of Turkcell Turkey and each of our subsidiaries. It includes the total number of mobile, fiber, ADSL and IPTV subscribers of Turkcell Turkey, and the mobile subscribers of lifecell and BeST, as well as those of Kuzey Kıbrıs Turkcell and Turkcell Europe.

(1) Subscribers to more than one service are counted separately for each service.
(2) The “wholesale traffic purchase” agreement, signed between Turkcell Europe GmbH operating in Germany and Deutsche Telekom for five years in 2010, had been modified to reflect the shift in business model to a “marketing partnership”. The new agreement between Turkcell and a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom was signed on August 27, 2014. The transfer of Turkcell Europe operations to Deutsche Telekom’s subsidiary was completed on January 15, 2015. Subscribers are still included in the Turkcell Group Subscriber figure.

OVERVIEW OF THE MACROECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT

The foreign exchange rates used in our financial reporting, along with certain macroeconomic indicators, are set out below.

* The official currency of the Republic of Belarus has been redenominated on July 1, 2016. As a result, BYR10,000 has become BYN1 starting from 1 July 2016. Prior periods have been adjusted accordingly for presentation purposes.

RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASUREMENTS: We believe Adjusted EBITDA, among other measures, facilitates performance comparisons from period to period and management decision making. It also facilitates performance comparisons from company to company. Adjusted EBITDA as a performance measure eliminates potential differences caused by variations in capital structures (affecting interest expense), tax positions (such as the impact of changes in effective tax rates on periods or companies) and the age and book depreciation of tangible assets (affecting relative depreciation expense). We also present Adjusted EBITDA because we believe it is frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in evaluating the performance of other mobile operators in the telecommunications industry in Europe, many of which present Adjusted EBITDA when reporting their results.

Our Adjusted EBITDA definition includes Revenue, Cost of Revenue excluding depreciation and amortization, Selling and Marketing expenses and Administrative expenses, but excludes translation gain/(loss), finance income, finance expense, share of profit of equity accounted investees, gain on sale of investments, minority interest and other income/(expense).

Nevertheless, Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider it in isolation from, or as a substitute for analysis of, our results of operations, as reported under IFRS. The following table provides a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA, as calculated using financial data prepared in accordance with IFRS as issued by the IASB, to net profit, which we believe is the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with IFRS as issued by the IASB.

NOTICE: This release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Safe Harbor provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This includes, in particular, our targets for revenue, EBITDA and capex in 2017 and for the medium term 2017 to 2019. More generally, all statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release, including, without limitation, certain statements regarding the launch and goals of our payment card business, our operations, financial position and business strategy may constitute forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as, among others, "will," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "believe", "continue" and “guidance”.

Although Turkcell believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable at this time, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us are expressly qualified in their entirety by reference to these cautionary statements. For a discussion of certain factors that may affect the outcome of such forward looking statements, see our Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2016 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and in particular the risk factor section therein. We undertake no duty to update or revise any forward looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

The Company makes no representation as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this press release, which remains subject to verification, completion and change. No responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by the Company or any of its subsidiaries, board members, officers, employees or agents as to or in relation to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this press release or any other written or oral information made available to any interested party or its advisers.

ABOUT TURKCELL: Turkcell is a digital operator headquartered in Turkey, serving its customers with its unique portfolio of digital services along with voice, messaging, data and IPTV services on its mobile and fixed networks. Turkcell Group companies operate in 9 countries – Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus, Northern Cyprus, Germany, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Moldova. Having launched LTE services on April 1 ^st , 2016 in Turkey, Turkcell reached 84.12% population coverage as of September 30, 2017 employing LTE-Advanced and 3 carrier aggregation technologies in 81 cities. In 2G and 3G, Turkcell’s population coverage in Turkey is at 99.59% and 96.98%, respectively, as of September 30, 2017. Turkcell offers up to 1 Gbps fiber internet speed with its FTTH services. Turkcell Group reported TRY4.6 billion revenue in Q317 with total assets of TRY32.3 billion as of September 30, 2017. It has been listed on the NYSE and the BIST since July 2000, and is the only NYSE-listed company in Turkey. Read more at www.turkcell.com.tr

This press release can also be viewed using the Turkcell Investor Relation app, which can be downloaded here  for iOS, and  here  for Android mobile devices.

Appendix A – Tables

Table: Translation gain and loss details

Table: Income tax expense details

Turkcell
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or
Corporate Communications:
Tel: + 90 212 313 2321
Turkcell-Kurumsal-Iletisim@turkcell.com.tr

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