Major mobile networks operators are fighting
over a possible bigger share in Turkey’s biggest mobile
operator.

Mehmet Karamehmet, the Turkish businessman
with a controlling stake in Turkcell, may lose his shares if he
does not find $1.4bn next month, the Financial Times reported.

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The two mobile operators trying to snatch up
Karamehment’s shares are TeliaSonera from the Nordics and Alfa
Group in Russia.

Turkey has one of the most advanced innovative
mobile markets in the world. Half the population is under 30 years
old and is very adapt to new technologies.

Turkcell has partnered with a number of
Turkish banks in the past year to launch mobile payment solutions.
Among them was DenizBank (June) and Yapi Kredi (February).

Telia is also involved in mobile payments in
Sweden.

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A bigger stake for any mobile operator in
Turkcell would mean an easy access into one of the most lucrative
mobile payments markets in the world.
 
The dispute

The dispute between Karamehmet and the other
two mobile operators is the cause of a loan Alfa had made to
Karamehment’s group Cukurova.

In July 2011, a court ruled that Cukurova “had
defaulted on a loan of about $1.4bn to Alfa and that by the terms
of the agreement between the two groups Alfa was entitled to the
shares put up as collateral,” the Financial Times wrote.

The court said Cukurova’s controlling stake in
Turkcell should cease.

Then, near the end of last year, a court ruled
that Karamehment had to pay back these $1.4bn within 90 days,
unless the court ruling from July took effect.

Yet, the court in December ruled that Cukurova
could maintain the stake as long as it pays back $1.4bn into an
escrow account.

Click here to read the full background of the dispute on the

Financial Times.