'Turkey's mobile internet economy worth $26 billion'

By Bahattin Gonultas

ANKARA

Turkey’s mobile internet economy rose 18 percent in 2016 when compared with 2015 -- to reach $26 billion, said a report released on Tuesday.

The report by Google Turkey and consulting firm OC&C Strategy Consultants said this figure was equivalent to 4 percent of the country’s national income in 2016.

This figure will climb to 289 billion Turkish liras ($73 billion) in 2023, equivalent to 5.2 percent of Turkey’s national income, the report predicted.

In 2015 Turkey’s mobile internet ecosystem valued 87 billion liras ($22 billion) equivalent to 3.7 percent of the country's national income of that year.

Google’s mobile operating system Android contributed 54 billion Turkish liras ($13.6 billion) to the 2016 figure, equaling to 2.1 percent of Turkey’s national income for the year.

The report adds that the Android economy will grow in 2023 and reach 3.5 percent of Turkey’s national income.

Mobile phone applications play a major role in increasing the number of internet users in Turkey. The mobile phone penetration rate climbed to 94 percent from 2013 to 2016.

Mobile and broadband subscribers rose by 23 percent in the same period reaching 62.2 million.

The report adds that in 2016, 68 percent mobile phone users had smartphones.

Mobile data traffic grew by 92 percent since 2013 and reached 102 million gigabytes in 2016. The growing number of smartphone users contributed to these figures.

In 2016, 13 million smartphones were sold in Turkey, the report said, adding that at least 10 million had Android operating systems.

Google’s Turkey Director Bulent Hicsonmez said Turkey is one of the leading countries in mobile data usage.

Elif Koc, an executive of OC&C Strategy Consultants, said that the high number of mobile users in Turkey supports the rise of data subscription.

* Can Erozden contributed to this story from Istanbul