Turkcell Posts 6.2% Real Revenue Growth to TRY 82 Billion in Q3

Turkcell İletişim Hizmetleri A.Ş. (NYSE:TKC) reported third-quarter revenue of TRY 82 billion, up 6.2% in real terms from a year earlier, with net income of TRY 6.7 billion and an EBITDA margin that crept up to 44.2% from 43.9%. CEO Ali Taha Koç said the results strengthened the company's confidence in its full-year real revenue growth and EBITDA margin guidance. Confidence, however, is not a guarantee; the margin gain arrived despite a heavier mix of corporate hardware sales and point-of-sale services, which CFO Kamil Kalyon acknowledged carry structurally lower margins.

Kalyon said consumer revenue returned to growth, helped by pricing actions and a more rational competitive environment. That phrase deserves scrutiny: "more rational" competitors can turn irrational again, and consumer growth here rests on pricing rather than volume alone.

Where did subscriber growth actually come from?

The mobile business supplied the bulk of it. Turkcell added 579,000 net mobile subscribers in the quarter, including 701,000 postpaid customers — meaning prepaid shrank. Mobile churn fell to 1.6% from 2.6% a year earlier, while ARPU excluding machine-to-machine connections rose 28% year over year to TRY 512.

Koç noted mobile number portability volumes fell below 2.3 million in the quarter, compared with roughly 5 million per quarter in 2025 — a sign the market has stopped churning itself. Assuming inflation develops in line with the company's expectations, he said, real mobile ARPU growth should accelerate over coming quarters as postpaid contracts renew. That assumption carries the weight of the forecast, and the company did not quantify what happens if inflation deviates.

On the fixed side:

• 39,000 fiber net additions, taking the base to 2.7 million; residential fiber ARPU rose 34% to TRY 623
• 101,000 Superbox additions; the fixed wireless product claims 75% market share
• 242,000 new fiber home passes, reaching 6.9 million across 33 Turkish cities
• 148,000 net TV+ subscribers across streaming and IPTV platforms

What is driving the digital business — and what is stalling?

Digital Business Services revenue rose 65% year over year to TRY 10.5 billion, nearly 13% of group revenue. Koç credited large project renewals and sustained demand across the digital solutions portfolio. Yet the same division carries the quarter's clearest caveat: global memory supply constraints and geopolitical uncertainty have delayed some customer demand for data center and cloud services, so Turkcell expects a more gradual revenue trajectory in those businesses this year. In the Q&A, Koç said some business customers were postponing server purchases and, consequently, their use of colocation facilities.

The infrastructure behind that business is substantial: 54 megawatts of active data center IT capacity across four locations and EUR 628 million invested to date in data centers and hyperscale infrastructure. Construction for Google Cloud's Türkiye region continues, with the first module scheduled for delivery in 2028. Kalyon said Turkcell could consider strategic partnerships or an initial public offering for its data center operations after the Google project concludes, calling data centers the company's leading IPO candidate. A 2028 dependency sits in front of that promise.

Paycell revenue rose 23% to TRY 2.9 billion, with 81% of that total from customers outside the Turkcell group; its active user base reached 7.1 million.

How much leverage is the company taking on?

Operational capex ran at 22.2% of sales in the quarter and 22.8% for the first nine months, below the 25% full-year guidance — partly because planned data center and renewable energy spending shifted to later periods. The quarter closed with TRY 99 billion in cash and net debt to EBITDA of 0.31 times.

Three commitments will change that ratio. Turkcell paid $400 million including VAT for its new Istanbul headquarters, an amount Koç said would appear in fourth-quarter results. The company agreed to buy an additional 11% of electric vehicle maker TOGG from Anadolu Group, raising its stake to 34% on completion; Koç stressed the deal does not commit Turkcell to further funding. Kalyon estimated net debt to EBITDA could close the year around 0.7 to 0.75 times, and said Turkcell most likely would not need additional funding in 2026 while exploring external financing for data centers.

Strong numbers, disciplined spending — with the data center bet deferred, and the leverage math still well under one turn.