Turk Telekom CEO's "Damaged" defense against excessive increases in bills.

Turkey has been discussing the recent increases in internet and mobile bills. Subscribers who have reached the end of their commitments have been subjected to price increases ranging from 200% to 300% when they switch to new packages.

CITIZENS ARE PROTESTING

Citizens who are protesting these increases have been expressing their outrage under the hashtag #OperatorRobbery on social media platform X. This hashtag has been trending in Turkey for over 2 days, with many citizens sharing their bills from the past 3-4 months to highlight the exorbitant price hikes.

CEO RESPONDS TO CRITICISM

Turk Telekom CEO Ümit Önal responded to the criticism during a meeting where the company announced its second-quarter financial and operational results. Önal stated, "Regarding the claims that operators are imposing excessive price increases, we have not increased our tariffs this month or last month. So what are we doing? As you know, we have a 12-month commitment system for mobile subscriptions, which covers 90% of our customers. Each customer's commitment period ends at different times. The price increases occur independently when these commitments expire. I also asked my colleagues for information about our tariffs. I looked at Turk Telekom and other operators from the last 2 months of the previous year to this year. I did not come across any new customer tariffs for operators that reach three-digit percentages."

CALCULATING BASED ON CURRENCY

Önal, who mentioned that operators are affected by investments based on imports and an inflationary environment, stated, "I can say that they (all operators) are not imposing price increases that would burden consumers. While saying this, I also saw some unfortunate and unfounded claims. Today, the average in Europe ranges from 15 to 25 euros, but it does not go below that. Are we offering services for only 5 euros today, my friends? Therefore, you will be in an investment based on imports, in an inflationary environment, and you will offer a service with a 5 euro price increase. I think the stance of our consumers on this matter is certainly respectable for us. However, I can say that not only in Europe but also in many countries around the world, Turkey falls behind. When you go to the Middle East today, these prices are around 35-45 dollars. Let me give you a funny example: I am not comparing Turkey to Iraq. When you go to Iraq, it's around 9 dollars."

"IF WE SAY IT'S CHEAPER THAN WATER, IT WOULDN'T BE WRONG"

Turk Telekom CEO Ümit Önal continued, "Let's imagine that we live in an average family of 4 people in Turkey. Let's think about the consumption of water other than drinking water in this family. We can assume that we consume an average of 5 to 8 water bottles. If we say that this number reaches 600-800, we wouldn't be saying anything wrong. Let's make an analogy: if we say that operator tariffs or customer prices are cheaper than water, it wouldn't be wrong."