ANKARA, Turkey-Italy’s Telecom Italia SpA and a leading Turkish bank, Turkiye Is Bankasi AS, won a license to operate Turkey’s third mobile telephone network with a bid of more than $2.5 billion.
Turkey’s current 7 million wireless customers are split between Turkcell, a partnership between Turkey’s Cukurova group and Finland’s Sonera, and Telsim, owned by Rumeli Holding with backing from Motorola Inc.
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Those beat out in the auction, including Spain’s Telefonica, France Telecom and U.S.-based SBC Communications Inc., are expected to be invited to an auction for a fourth operating license.
