More than ten years after the liberalization of the telecommunications industry, Turkey still has the least penetrated and the least competitive broadband market in Europe. In a recently published article Şahin Ardıyokand Emin Köksal investigate this poor performance of the Turkish broadband market through a comprehensive analysis.

The authors specifically emphasize institutional limitations of promoting service-based competition. They discuss the compatibility of the regulatory policies and strategies based on service-based competition in Turkey. In particular, they analyze political, regulatory and institutional limitations to promote service-based competition through the implementation ladder of investment approach, which relies on offering a gradual level of access to the incumbent’s facility. According to them, almost a decade has passed with mere attempts to open incumbent’s infrastructure for the alternative internet service providers without a sound regulatory environment. They conclude that broadband policy to institute service-based competition has not only failed but also delayed facility-based competition.

However, as the authors point out, recent developments in the Turkish broadband market indicate an emerging facility-based competition through next generation access networks which relies on building entrant’s own network.  Ardıyok and Köksal deeply analyze the prospect of such a facility based competition mentioning its limits and potential. After a comprehensive analysis of market conditions and regulatory policies, the authors specifically indicate factors and policies that may stimulate facility-based.

The reference of the article is given below and the full-text is available at the following link:

Köksal, E., & Ardıyok, S. (2015). Reviewing regulatory policy for broadband in Turkey: The failure of service-based competition and the prospect of facility-based competition. Competition and Regulation in Network Industries, 16(4), 354–377.  https://doi.org/10.1177/178359171501600403