life:), Turkcell’s (NYSE:TKC)(BIST:TCELL) wholly-owned subsidiary in Ukraine, has announced that it will serve its customers under a new brand: lifecell. lifecell will adopt blue and yellow as its brand colors, bringing Turkcell and its Ukrainian subsidiary closer in terms of brand identity.

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Burak Ersoy, the CEO of lifecell, in front of a recently rebranded lifecell store in Kyiv, the capit ...

Burak Ersoy, the CEO of lifecell, in front of a recently rebranded lifecell store in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. (Photo: Business Wire)

Following the brand change, lifecell will serve its customers with its new brand name and identity at 184 stores in 91 Ukrainian cities and 144 sales points.

This brand change marks a milestone in the operator’s journey as a technology leader in Ukraine. In 2015, life:) had become the first GSM operator to launch 3G in Ukraine – dubbed 3G+, life:)’s 3G service came with three-carrier technology offering speeds of up to 63.3 mbps. Shortly after the launch, in July, Turkcell, which supported its subsidiary throughout 3G license and roll-out processes, became the sole owner of life:), demonstrating its commitment to Ukraine.

“The emergence of our new brand name and identity marks the merger of life:)’s image as a dynamic, young, innovative operator with Turkcell’s technology leadership and experience. It is not merely a visual change. With lifecell, we will also transform the customer experience in Ukraine including the approach in our exclusive stores and broaden the focus of our brand to meet the needs of our corporate customers. ” said Burak Ersoy, CEO of lifecell. “Under our new brand identity and with our ongoing investments in 3G+ infrastructure and services, we will continue to serve our customers with all the possibilities that real mobile internet experience offers. ”

New brand name reflects technology leadership in 3G success story

The change of brand name is an important step in lifecell’s success story in introducing 3G+ to Ukraine, as well as in Turkcell’s ongoing commitment to the country which Turkcell defines as a “pilot country” for its international operations.

At the 3G spectrum auction held on February 23rd, 2015, life:) submitted the highest bid and acquired the spectrum that was most amenable to investment and superior customer experience. Later in the year – on May 19 in Lviv and on July 4th in other cities including Kyiv – life:) became the first GSM operator to introduce 3G services in Ukraine.

The operator serves 13.8 million customers in total – 2 million of which are active 3G users. As of the end of December,

  • It is the market leader in smartphone penetration with 46%.
  • Among the customers who can receive 3G services, 47% are already 3G customers.
  • Total data traffic on the operators network went up by almost 50% in the limited time since the first launch of 3G services.

In addition to the ongoing 3G+ roll-out, Turkcell continues to support its subsidiary with 3G-enabled mobile services. Turkcell’s IP-based communication platfom BiP was recently launched in Ukraine with local language support, local content and voice- and video-call features.

ABOUT TURKCELL: Turkcell is an integrated communication and technology services player in Turkey. Turkcell Group has approximately 68.1 million mobile subscribers in nine countries and over 1.4 million fixed subscribers in Turkey as of September 30, 2015. Turkcell was one of the first among the global operators to have implemented HSPA+. It has announced two new HSPA+ Technologies on its 3G network to meet rising data usage. Having successfully integrated 3C-HSDPA and DC-HSUPA Technologies, it became the first mobile operator in the world to enable peak speed of 63.3 Mbps downlink while also enabled an 11.5 Mbps uplink on a 3G network. Turkcell is the first telecom operator to offer households fiber broadband connection at speeds of up to 1,000 Mbps in Turkey. As of September 2015, Turkcell’s population coverage is at 99.81% in 2G and 94.14% in 3G. Turkcell Group reported a TRY3.4 billion (US$1.2 billion) revenue with total assets of TRY20.6 billion (US$6.8 billion) as of September 30, 2015. It has been listed on the NYSE and the BIST since July 2000, and is the only NYSE-listed company in Turkey.

Read more at www.turkcell.com.tr