The notice states no price, nominal value, payment rate, maturity or buyer rules. It points readers to KASE's lists of digital asset platform participants and its rules for platform operators and custodians. The terms of the issue are therefore not public in the notice, and Corridor Signal does not estimate them.

Two Kazakh outlets reported the placement the next day. Exclusive.kz described the deal as the first issue and placement of digital financial assets on KASE's platform, organised by BCC Invest, a subsidiary of Bank CenterCredit. It says the assets pay periodic remuneration and return their nominal value when the circulation period ends, that KASE charges no fees on the platform until December, and that issuers need no audited financial statements. National Business also names ALTA Telecom as the first issuer and BCC Invest as organiser. Neither report gives the size of the issue. The notice does not say "first": Exclusive.kz says KASE describes it that way, and National Business cites a KASE Telegram post.

ALTA Telecom is already a KASE issuer. Its issuer page describes it as a provider of system and technical maintenance for information and communication equipment, with bonds under the ticker ALTAb1 (ISIN KZ2P00015282) trading on the exchange's alternative market since 16 January 2026. The page lists operating revenue of KZT 6,377.8 million at 1 July 2026 against KZT 3,716.0 million at 1 April, total assets of KZT 9,581.0 million and liabilities of KZT 6,631.4 million. It does not give the bond's size, coupon or maturity, and it carries nothing on the digital asset.

Exclusive.kz says KASE sees the instrument as a financing option for small and medium-sized businesses. Whether other telecom firms follow depends on terms the notice does not disclose. KASE also publishes holder registers for larger telecoms: Corridor Signal has reported on the Alma Telecommunications and ASTEL registers and on the Kcell register ahead of its 17 November vote.

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In the letter, dated 30 October and signed by T. Iskakov, deputy chairman of the management board and chief financial officer, the company says the general meeting of holders of bonds KZ2C00006344 was called on the question of changing the coupon rate, with voting due to close at 18:00. It cites paragraph 6 of article 18-2 of Kazakhstan's securities market law.

The company asked the exchange to halt placement and trading from 30 October until the day after the meeting's decision is published on the website of the financial reporting depository. If holders approve a new rate, the halt runs until the day after the changes to the prospectus are registered with the state. The exchange gives subparagraph 1 of paragraph 77 of its trading rules as the basis and sets the start of the suspension at 2 November.

Neither document gives the proposed rate or the result of the vote. The exchange's page for the bond lists its last coupon rate as 11.5 per cent a year and a circulation period from 10 January 2020 to 10 January 2032, which leaves a little over five years to maturity.

The exchange first announced the meeting in a notice of 15 October, with an agenda covering the coupon rate and the matching changes to the prospectus. Corridor Signal covered that notice in its piece of 20 October and listed the meeting in The Week Ahead for 26 October.

The length of the halt now depends on the outcome. A rejection would end it the day after the decision is published; an approved change would keep the bonds out of trading until the state registers the amended prospectus, a date neither notice estimates.

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Revenue fell to TL 3,429.6 million from TL 3,709.9 million, down 7.6 per cent, in the unconsolidated statements on the Public Disclosure Platform. Gross profit more than halved, to TL 200.9 million from TL 451.2 million, so the gross margin fell to 5.9 per cent from 12.2 per cent, on Backhaul's arithmetic. The company swung to an operating loss of TL 133.0 million from an operating profit of TL 15.2 million. A lower tax charge, TL 12.1 million against TL 91.0 million, explains why the net loss still narrowed.

The third quarter alone went the other way. Revenue rose to TL 1,563.4 million from TL 1,398.7 million, up 11.8 per cent, operating profit reached TL 59.5 million against TL 14.8 million, and net profit was TL 93.2 million against TL 17.3 million. Total assets stood at TL 7,022.8 million on 30 September, up from TL 5,610.8 million at the end of 2025.

The filing does not break revenue down by customer or product. Turkish operators are raising money for networks: Türk Telekom signed a $1 billion club loan on 26 October to finance mainly 5G and fibre, which we reported on 31 October, and the country's 5G count passed 45 million, the regulator BTK said on 23 October.

Another listed vendor disclosed enterprise data centre work the same week. Netaş said on 23 October that its wholly owned subsidiary Netaş Bilişim Teknolojileri had signed two contracts worth USD 6,333,000 before VAT with a banking customer, for data centre switches, routers and control and management components and for branch network switches. The notice does not name the bank.

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The facility has a final maturity of October 2031 and an average maturity of 4.55 years. It pays interest at six-month SOFR plus 2.00 per cent a year, and its all-in cost, including the upfront fees paid to the banks, is six-month SOFR plus 2.15 per cent, according to the notice filed on Türkiye's Public Disclosure Platform.

Bank of America acted as coordinator and mandated lead arranger, and ING Bank as facility agent and mandated lead arranger. BNP Paribas Fortis, Citibank, Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, MUFG Bank, Société Générale, Standard Chartered Bank and SMBC Bank were the other mandated lead arrangers, with Mashreqbank as lead arranger and J.P. Morgan as arranger. The notice does not say whether the loan has been drawn, how it splits between 5G, fibre and other uses, whether any of it refinances existing debt, or whether it will be hedged into lira.

Against Turkcell's March facility

The loan matches in size the facility its main rival took earlier in the year. Turkcell drew a USD 1 billion Murabaha syndicated facility on 30 March, with a profit rate of three-month SOFR plus 1.95 per cent a year and an all-in cost of three-month SOFR plus 2.14 per cent including fees, its half-year Form 6-K shows. The two all-in margins differ by one hundredth of a percentage point, but they sit on different reference rates, three-month for Turkcell and six-month for Türk Telekom, so the two costs are not directly comparable.

Turkcell's consolidated debt rose to TL 212.1 billion at 30 June from TL 186.8 billion at the end of 2025, driven primarily by that facility, the filing says. After hedging, 68 per cent of its consolidated debt was in US dollars.

At home, Türk Telekom's subsidiary TTNET approved up to TL 7.5 billion of lease certificates with maturities of up to five years in September, alongside a share buyback of up to TL 2.5 billion at the parent, as Corridor Signal reported.

The balance sheet before the facility

Türk Telekom's net debt stood at 1.00 times EBITDA at the end of June, up from 0.60 times at the end of 2025; it was 0.99 times at the end of March, after payments related to the concession and the 5G licence, its second-quarter results release said. Net debt was TL 122.4 billion, against TL 74.2 billion a year earlier.

The company was short USD 2.4 billion in foreign currency at the end of June, a position that includes USD 2.8 billion of concession and mobile licence obligations; without them it would have been long USD 331 million, the release said. Net financial expense rose 91.6 per cent year on year to TL 19.3 billion in the second quarter, mainly on foreign-exchange losses on those obligations and on higher hedging costs. Corridor Signal set out how the two operators carry their 5G bills in an analysis of their half-year filings.

Spending on the networks the loan is meant to fund was already rising. Capital expenditure excluding solar investments was TL 23.1 billion in the second quarter, up 39.8 per cent from TL 16.5 billion a year earlier, an increase the release attributes largely to 5G and fibre.

Unlevered free cash flow was TL 3.9 billion in the second quarter, against TL 9.4 billion a year earlier, affected by higher capital spending, the release said. For the full year, the company set its capital expenditure intensity at 34 per cent of revenue in August, from a range of 33 to 34 per cent, in a guidance revision that excludes spending on solar investments, the concession extension and licence fees. The same revision narrowed consolidated revenue growth guidance, excluding IFRIC 12, to 8 per cent and raised the company's assumption for year-end inflation to 27 per cent from 22 per cent.

Next document: the third-quarter accounts

Türk Telekom publishes its results for July to September on 4 November, as Corridor Signal reported from its calendar notice. The loan was signed after that quarter closed on 30 September, so those accounts will not include it on the 30 September balance sheet.

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Kazakhtelecom holds 102,000,000 of Kcell's 200,000,000 authorised common shares, all of which are outstanding. KC Holding Ltd holds 29,745,215. Together that is 131,745,215 shares, or 65.87 per cent, leaving 68,254,785 shares, or 34.13 per cent, with holders below the 10 per cent reporting line. KASE lists no other holder above it. The disclosure for 1 July, published on 20 July, gives the same two names and the same share counts.

The filing is the register that our 25 October piece named as the next point at which a change in these holdings would show. It shows none among the two largest holders. It does not show how the remaining 34.13 per cent divides, or how much of it trades, because it lists only holders of 10 per cent or more.

The date matters for the merger vote. Kcell's board called an extraordinary meeting for 17 November to vote on merging KazNet Media JSC into Kcell, and set the register at 00:00 Almaty time on 19 October as the record date for who may attend and vote. The 1 October snapshot is 18 days earlier, so it does not itself establish who holds the votes. A register as of 19 October is not part of what KASE has published so far.

A second notice from Kcell, also dated 16 October, adds a detail the first did not. It convenes a joint general meeting of Kcell and KazNet Media shareholders on 17 November at 11:30 Almaty time, half an hour after the Kcell meeting is due to start, with the same 18 November fallback. Its agenda has three items: approving the agenda, setting up a counting commission, and the merger itself. Like the first notice, it gives no terms, no exchange ratio and no voting threshold.

Telecompaper reported on 22 October that KazNet Media has been part of Kcell's corporate structure since 2016 and specialises in software code development and testing, in its report on the proposed merger. Kcell's notices do not describe the business.

Kazakhtelecom, the 51.00 per cent holder, is the controlling shareholder whose support Moody's cited in its Baa3 rating of Kcell, as the operator summarised it. Kcell's notices say agenda materials will be available for review at least ten days before the meeting, which for 17 November means by 7 November. Those papers are the next place where terms, and any related holdings, could appear.

Read on Corridor Signal

On 27 October the shares cost an average of TL 90.50, for a total of TL 108,273,261, equal to 0.054 per cent of capital, the Form 6-K for that day shows. The filing for 28 October gives 20,110 shares at an average of TL 91.10, for TL 1,832,021, or 0.0009 per cent of capital. Both are Group B shares, and both filings repeat the stated aim of protecting stakeholders' interests and supporting healthy price formation.

The table in the second filing lists every purchase under the programme so far: 2,093,944 shares on 12 November 2025, 3,201,696 on 23 October, and the two new tranches. That makes 6,512,127 shares for about TL 588.0 million, or 6.9 per cent of the TL 8.5 billion fund the programme allows, on Backhaul's arithmetic. The shares equal about 0.30 per cent of Turkcell's TL 2.2 billion issued capital, against the 10 per cent ceiling set in the programme the board put to shareholders in March 2025. The table shows no purchase on 26 October.

The pace has changed. Our 29 October piece reported that the 23 October tranche was the first in more than 11 months. Three sessions in the four trading days from 23 October have now added 4,418,183 shares, about twice the November 2025 purchase. The average price has risen from TL 86.75 on 23 October to TL 91.10 on 28 October.

The filings give no plan for further purchases and no reason for the timing. Turkcell's main domestic rival has also been buying since September, under the TL 2.5 billion programme Türk Telekom started in September. Turkcell reports its third-quarter results on 9 November after Borsa Istanbul trading hours, according to its calendar announcement; the October purchases fall in the fourth quarter.

Read on Corridor Signal

The cancelled shares equal 1,078,049 American depositary shares. The release describes the cancellation as pursuant to the buyback VEON announced on 23 September, which is to retire 3.9 per cent of its outstanding shares, or 72.5 million shares and their equivalent in depositary shares. The shares now cancelled are 37.2 per cent of that number, on Backhaul's arithmetic. The October release does not say what VEON paid for them, how many came from the open market and how many from LetterOne, the shareholder that agreed to sell into the programme, or how many shares remain outstanding.

What the September programme set out

VEON put the value of the programme at about $200 million, based on a closing price of $69.37 per depositary share on 22 September, and said the final amount would vary with the prices paid, in the September release. Each depositary share represents 25 common shares. Every share acquired is to be cancelled.

The company said $200 million equalled 27.5 per cent of its equity free cash flow after leases and licences for the twelve months to 30 June 2026, and implied a yield of 5.5 per cent on the average closing price over the twelve months to 22 September. Both ratios use the $200 million figure, which was itself set at the 22 September reference price rather than at the prices eventually paid.

The programme raised the minimum annual buyback of $100 million that VEON set in May 2025, and came on top of a separate $100 million programme announced in November 2025, which the company said was complete. Since August 2024, VEON said, it had repurchased 4.46 million depositary shares, or 6.0 per cent of those outstanding, for $227.6 million in total.

"Returning cash to shareholders is a core priority for VEON," Kaan Terzioglu, VEON's group chief executive, said in the September release. Shares and depositary shares held by the company itself represented about 7.9 per cent of its outstanding shares after an issuance in March 2024 and later transfers, the release said.

LetterOne's share of the sales

The buyback combines open-market purchases of depositary shares with direct purchases from LetterOne, which agreed to sell up to 32,957,830 shares to VEON in proportion to its holding, at prices and in volumes set by reference to the open-market purchases, the September release said. LetterOne held 45.46 per cent of VEON on a base of 1,849,190,667 common shares in its own filing, as Corridor Signal reported when a second investor, Shah Capital, moved its 6.72 per cent stake to a passive filing on 16 October.

On LetterOne's base, the shares cancelled on 20 October come to 1.46 per cent, which matches the "approximately 1.5 per cent" in the release, on Backhaul's arithmetic. If LetterOne sold in proportion to its holding, its part of the cancelled shares would be about 12.3 million, but the release gives no split, and the number of shares VEON has bought but not yet cancelled is not disclosed.

At the September reference price, the 1,078,049 depositary shares cancelled would have cost about $74.8 million, on Backhaul's arithmetic. The actual cost depends on the prices paid between 23 September and 20 October, which VEON has not published.

The corridor businesses behind the cash

VEON describes itself as serving more than 150 million connectivity customers and more than 228 million digital customers in five countries. Two of those countries are on the corridor. In Kazakhstan, Beeline Kazakhstan's EBITDA fell 17.5 per cent in tenge in the second quarter as revenue rose 3.8 per cent, as Corridor Signal reported.

In Uzbekistan, the group agreed on 19 October to buy the mobile operator Perfectum for about $207 million including debt, and the Competition Committee cleared the deal on conditions that include a 12-month freeze on 5G fixed wireless tariffs for existing customers. VEON said it expected to complete the purchase by the end of October.

On the day the Perfectum deal was announced, Uzbekistan's digital technologies minister, Sherzod Shermatov, met Mr Terzioglu in Samarkand on the sidelines of the C5+1 summit, Trend reported, citing the ministry. The two discussed mobile coverage, network modernisation and digital services, the report said, and it noted that VEON says it has invested more than $1.6 billion in the country's telecom sector since entering in 2006. No new figure or commitment was attached to the meeting.

VEON's third-quarter results are due on 6 November, a company announcement says, and would be the first set of accounts to show the cost of the shares bought since 23 September. Until then the October release leaves three numbers unstated: the price paid, the split between open-market and LetterOne purchases, and the shares still to be bought before the 72.5 million target is reached. If the cancelled shares are the only ones acquired so far, that balance is 45.5 million, on Backhaul's arithmetic.

Read on Corridor Signal

The Group B shares bought on 23 October have a nominal value of TL 3,201,696, equal to 0.146 per cent of the company's capital, the filing says. It gives the stated aim as "protecting the interests of our stakeholders and supporting healthy price formation in the market while maintaining the fair value of our shares". The table in the filing lists 2,093,944 shares, in nominal terms, as previously bought back within the programme, which confirms that no purchases were made between the two dates.

The earlier purchase

On 12 November 2025 Turkcell bought 2,093,944 shares at an average of TL 95.58, for TL 200,141,178, or 0.095 per cent of capital, according to its announcement of that day. The October purchase was made at a price 9.2 per cent lower in nominal lira terms, and was about 1.5 times larger by number of shares, on Backhaul's arithmetic.

Together, the two purchases come to 5,295,640 shares and TL 477,872,534. That is 5.6 per cent of the TL 8.5 billion the programme allows and 2.4 per cent of the maximum number of shares it permits, leaving about TL 8.02 billion of the fund unused, on Backhaul's arithmetic. The shares bought so far equal about 0.24 per cent of Turkcell's issued capital.

What the programme allows

The board resolved on 25 March 2025 to put the programme to the annual general assembly, and the text of the programme is attached to that announcement. It allows Turkcell to buy back shares up to 10 per cent of its issued capital of TL 2,200,000,000, within a fund of up to TL 8,500,000,000 drawn from the company's own resources and operating cash flow. The minimum purchase price is TL 1 a share, and the maximum is linked to book value per share in the latest consolidated accounts published on the Public Disclosure Platform.

The programme names two purposes: to protect investors from domestic economic fluctuations or adverse effects of the global economy, and to buy shares for employee share ownership plans. It runs for up to three years from the general assembly's approval. The board may decide not to start purchases or to suspend the programme at any time, depending on market conditions or the company's financial position. Bought-back shares may be held indefinitely, resold on the exchange or cancelled through a capital reduction.

The general assembly held on 15 May 2025 approved the programme, according to Turkcell's report of the meeting's results, so the authority runs until May 2028 at the latest. When it was proposed, the TL 8.5 billion fund equalled 2 per cent of total assets at 31 December 2024, and the company said it did not expect a material effect on its financial position.

The programme document also records an older stock of treasury shares: 21,463,501 shares bought for TL 563,834,214 under decisions dating from July 2016, equal to 0.98 per cent of issued capital in March 2025. In March 2025 the programme document said those shares were held by the company and could be used for employee share ownership plans. The filings do not say whether they, or the two recent tranches, are still held, or whether any will be cancelled.

The same week

The purchase came a day after Turkcell disclosed that it and its research and development subsidiary had paid TL 16.51 billion in cash for two Istanbul Financial Center buildings bought from a unit of the Türkiye Wealth Fund, its controlling shareholder. The 23 October buyback was equivalent to about 1.7 per cent of that price, on Backhaul's arithmetic.

Turkcell's main domestic rival is also in the market for its own stock. Türk Telekom started a buyback of up to TL 2.5 billion in September and had bought 1,214,000 shares by the end of that month. Turkcell's fund is more than three times larger, though both companies have so far used only a small part of their limits.

Turkcell will publish its results for July to September on 9 November, after Borsa Istanbul trading hours, according to a calendar announcement dated 20 October. Those accounts cover a quarter that ended before the October purchase, which falls in the fourth quarter.

The filing does not say whether further purchases are planned or what prompted the resumption after more than 11 months. By 25 October, Turkcell had filed no further buyback transactions with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Read on Corridor Signal

Read beside the bank's Telecommunications, Media and Technology Sector Strategy for 2025 to 2029, the approach shows what a corridor borrower now faces: open access and competitive tendering as standards the bank calls non-negotiable, due diligence on suppliers of critical networks, and support that includes green, AI-ready data centres.

Open access as the non-negotiable

The TMT strategy's lessons from 2020 to 2024 state that a "minimum set of standards on open access and competitive tendering must be non-negotiable" to ensure competitive safeguards. The strategy lists public and private lending for rural fibre rollout among its instruments and says the bank will seek opportunities to support the state in delivering national broadband programmes.

Its diagnosis of the sector's regulatory challenges names unbundling, duct access, interconnection fees, number portability and infrastructure sharing as the measures at stake, and counts restrictive spectrum licensing and the absence of independent regulators among the weaknesses, using the ITU's regulatory score as the benchmark. Its policy engagement is to run on four lines: state-owned enterprise governance, competitiveness and sector reform, cybersecurity, and legal and regulatory frameworks.

Tajikistan's project is the corridor's next public broadband loan to reach the bank's board. The loan would be implemented through the national telecommunications operator, which owns the core network, and would fund wholesale open-access infrastructure so that other operators can extend last-mile connectivity, the project summary says, as Corridor Signal reported. The summary does not name the operator and does not publish the access terms.

Suppliers, data centres and what the approach leaves out

The Digital Approach adds a risk-based framework for investments in critical ICT infrastructure, with the scope of due diligence set by the risk assessed at the outset, and says the bank "encourages the diversification of suppliers in its projects wherever possible".

Its support includes investments in "green, AI-ready data centres and cloud platforms", sovereign digital infrastructure and high-performance computing. It cites the International Energy Agency's base case that data centres will use 3 per cent of global electricity in 2030, up from about 1.5 per cent in 2024, and says the bank can promote local and edge computing to reduce reliance on energy-intensive centralised cloud.

The approach sets no lending target. Its indicators are counts: investments by pillar, people with better coverage and connectivity, laws and strategies adopted. It says investments from 2022 to 2024 are projected to have given about 14.5 million people better digital coverage and 3.5 million people connectivity, and that the bank invested in 10 digital infrastructure projects in those three years. The TMT strategy likewise lists fibre penetration and 5G coverage as indicators without baselines or goals.

The corridor pipeline so far

The TMT strategy counts 88 signed projects worth €1.6 billion from 2020 to September 2024, with 94 per cent private-sector investments, and names Telecom Armenia and Aztelekom in Azerbaijan among the bank's financings. In 2025 the EBRD invested almost US$2 billion, or €1.72 billion, in Central Asia and Mongolia across 120 projects, its annual summary of 30 January says. Uzbekistan took €880 million and Kazakhstan €378 million, followed by Mongolia with €188 million, the Kyrgyz Republic with €183 million and Tajikistan with €88 million; the summary names no digital, telecom or data-centre project.

The Telecom Armenia deal shows one structure the bank has used in the Caucasus. The EBRD invested US$13.5 million in a US$75 million sustainability-linked bond issued by Telecom Armenia on the Armenian Stock Exchange, to refinance debt and fund network capital expenditure, with transition impact scored on financial resilience and green targets, its project summary says. The project was approved on 4 December 2024.

What the documents set out for a borrower is less money than terms. The strategy's instruments run from capital-markets structures such as the Armenian bond to sovereign lending for rural fibre; its lessons call open access and competitive tendering non-negotiable; the approach says supplier diversification is encouraged wherever possible. The World Bank's matching grants in Kazakhstan show the other route a state can take, paying private providers to build, as Corridor Signal explained.

For a regulator, the strategy's list of regulatory challenges is where the bank's policy engagement starts, and the strategy says that dialogue and technical assistance are focused on areas with identifiable projects the EBRD can finance or that are likely to generate systemic impact.

Dates to watch: 16 December 2026, the EBRD board date for the Tajikistan Rural Broadband loan; the end of 2029, when the TMT strategy period closes; and the bank's annual Impact Report, which the approach says will carry a selection of its digital indicators.

Read on Corridor Signal

The seller, TVF İFM Gayrimenkul İnşaat ve Yönetim, is a related party under the rules of Türkiye's Capital Markets Board, the filing says. Turkcell takes Building B for TL 6,983,204,159 and Turkcell Teknoloji Araştırma ve Geliştirme (TTECH) takes Building A for TL 9,528,495,841. Both stand on Plot 2 of Block 3328 in Finanskent, in Istanbul's Ümraniye district. The stated purpose is a Technology and Management Center.

Price against valuation

A valuation by Denge Gayrimenkul, in a report dated 3 August 2026 that used the market approach, put Building A at TL 9.879 billion and Building B at TL 7.2381 billion, or TL 17.1171 billion together, the filing says. It describes the price as 4 per cent below that valuation, reached by negotiation. On the filing's own figures the gap is TL 605.4 million, or 3.5 per cent of the combined valuation, and the discount on each building is also about 3.5 per cent, by Corridor Signal's calculation.

The board approved the purchase on 24 September and the agreement was signed on 9 October. The board postponed public disclosure under Article 6 of the Capital Markets Board's communiqué on material events, citing the risk to the acquisition and to the company's legal rights if the deal became public before the title deeds were transferred, the filing says.

How large the deal is

The filing measures the purchase against the company's own accounts: 2.5 per cent of total assets, 6.8 per cent of the latest annual sales, 8.5 per cent of total net non-current assets, 5.87 per cent of the average daily market value over six months and 751 per cent of paid-in capital.

The asset ratio matches Turkcell's balance sheet. Total assets were TL 659.9 billion at 30 June, according to its second-quarter results, and 2.5 per cent of that is TL 16.5 billion. The same results show cash and cash equivalents of TL 89.3 billion, net debt of TL 44.5 billion and capital expenditure of TL 106.8 billion in the first half. Corridor Signal set out the operator's leverage after those payments in an analysis of the two largest operators' first-half accounts.

Another dealing with the fund

The purchase is not the only matter between Turkcell and the wealth fund on the record this autumn. In a statement dated 31 August the company said talks with the fund on a transaction involving shares of the carmaker TOGG were ongoing, without saying who would buy or sell, as Corridor Signal reported. No filing up to 17 October gave terms, Corridor Signal found.

The property purchase also comes in a period of active short-term funding. Turkcell sold a TL 500 million 91-day bill on 9 October at a simple annual rate of 37 per cent according to its financing disclosures.

What the filing leaves out

The 6-K does not give the floor area, the number of staff who would move, a timetable for occupying the buildings or any fit-out cost. Turkcell's second-quarter filing gives its principal executive offices as Aydınevler Mahallesi in Küçükyalı, Maltepe, and the new filing does not say whether that campus will be kept, leased or sold. It also gives no account of how the price compares with renting similar space.

The next document is the third-quarter report. Turkcell plans to publish results for July to September on 9 November, after Borsa Istanbul trading hours, according to a filing of 20 October. The purchase is dated for completion on 22 October, after the quarter closed.

Read on Corridor Signal

The rating leans heavily on ownership. Moody's cites support from Kcell's controlling shareholder Kazakhtelecom and the operator's full integration into the group of Samruk-Kazyna, the sovereign wealth fund, and assesses the likelihood of extraordinary state support "should the need arise, as high", Kcell said in its English press release. Kazakhtelecom provides fibre infrastructure, converged products, cross-selling and financial support, including guarantees on certain debt facilities, the release says.

What holds the rating back

On the operating side, Moody's points to Kcell's position as Kazakhstan's second-largest mobile operator, its spectrum holdings, nationwide coverage, 5G leadership, improving subscriber trends and recent market share gains, the release states. The constraints are the investment programme: elevated capital expenditure tied to the 5G rollout and network modernisation, temporarily negative free cash flow and the need to monetise recent investment. The agency expects free cash flow to turn positive and credit metrics to improve over the next one to two years as capital spending moderates, the release says.

Moody's assesses Kcell's liquidity as sufficient to cover its debt obligations, capital expenditure and operating needs over the next 12 to 18 months, and the stable outlook reflects an expectation that EBITDA will improve gradually as investment slows, Kcell said in its statement. Kcell's release summarises the agency's view; Moody's own rationale is not attached to the filing.

The numbers behind it

Kcell's revenue rose 10.8 per cent year on year to KZT 138.4 billion in the first half of 2026, EBITDA rose 13 per cent to KZT 53.8 billion for a margin of 38.9 per cent, and net profit increased 40.5 per cent to KZT 7.9 billion, the release says. Capital expenditure exceeded KZT 32 billion in the half. The subscriber base grew 11.2 per cent to 9.05 million.

The company put more than 650 base stations into service in the first half, over half of them 5G-capable, taking its 5G base station count to 3,034, the company said in its release. It reports population coverage of 91.37 per cent for 4G and 64.29 per cent for 5G, figures that are the company's own and not those of the regulator.

Chief financial officer Sabigat Rakhmetov said in the release that the company works with Halyk Bank, Bank of China Kazakhstan and Nurbank as well as the Development Bank of Kazakhstan and the Eurasian Development Bank, and is "highly active across the KASE and AIX capital markets". He said the rating "significantly broadens Kcell's capabilities in the financial markets". The release does not say whether the company plans a bond issue or a refinancing on the back of it.

Fitch first rated Kcell BB in 2017 and upgraded it to BB+ in 2020, the release says. The split leaves Kcell investment grade at one agency and one notch below it at the other. Kcell is the only mobile operator in the Samruk-Kazyna portfolio, chief executive Askar Zhambakin said in the statement, adding: "We are currently executing a large-scale network and 5G infrastructure development program."

Governance changes at the parent are also under way. Kazakhtelecom called an extraordinary general meeting for 7 October with a single item on changing the composition of its board of directors, according to a KASE notice of 2 September. The notice does not name the directors involved, and Moody's view of Kcell, as summarised by the company, rests on the strategic relationship with Kazakhtelecom continuing.

Read on Corridor Signal

Its exchange ticker, KZTC, is unchanged in the filings that followed. A week after the change, the sole shareholder reshaped the board. By a decision dated 25 September, changes were made to the composition of QMobile's board of directors, which now has four members, a KASE notice of 5 October said. The exchange summary does not name the directors who left or joined.

The company kept up its debt payments through the change of name. It paid the third coupon on its KZTCb3 bonds, ISIN KZ2C00012961, on 30 September, a KASE notice says, still under the Jusan Mobile name. The notice gives no amount.

As of 1 July, Assets Logistics and Property Group LLP held 2,332,915 common shares, or 88.86 per cent of all outstanding shares and 100 per cent of the outstanding common shares, the company's shareholder disclosure says. The company had 3,000,000 authorised common shares and 115,738 preferred shares, with 2,509,683 common shares and all preferred shares placed, and had bought back 176,768 common and 27,544 preferred shares, the disclosure shows. It names that partnership as the only holder of 10 per cent or more of the outstanding shares.

None of the notices explains the reason for the new name, whether the brand used with customers will also change, or whether the board changes are linked to a wider transaction. The filings do not identify the owners of Assets Logistics and Property Group.

The exchange's own records straddle the change. KASE published the coupon payment under the Jusan Mobile name on 2 October and the board change under the QMobile name on 5 October, both against the same KZTC ticker. The shareholder data of 1 July predates the re-registration. The company's next scheduled disclosures on the exchange, including its shareholder information as of 1 October and any further coupon payments, would show whether its ownership or financing has moved alongside the name.

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Read together with the companies' shareholder disclosures, the filings show how concentrated ownership of the country's listed telecom sector is.

At an extraordinary meeting on 7 October, Kazakhtelecom shareholders removed Yelzhas Otynshiyev and elected Darkhan Abdimoldayev, each listed as a representative of the interests of Samruk-Kazyna, the company's filing says. The board has seven members, a KASE notice says. The meeting was convened at the initiative of a major shareholder, with board composition as its only item, the notice of meeting shows. The list of shareholders entitled to vote was drawn up as of 31 August, and the meeting would have moved to 14 October had it lacked a quorum.

Samruk-Kazyna, the national welfare fund, held 9,771,920 Kazakhtelecom common shares as of 1 July, equal to 91.27 per cent of outstanding common shares and 80.52 per cent of all outstanding shares, a shareholder disclosure shows. The company had bought back 216,852 common and 914,868 preferred shares. Kazakhtelecom in turn held 102,000,000 Kcell shares, or 51.00 per cent, and KC Holding Ltd held 29,745,215, or 14.87 per cent, Kcell's disclosure for the same date shows. No other Kcell holder had 10 per cent or more.

Transtelecom's shareholders removed T. Iskakov from its board on 5 October and elected B. Mukazhanov, while re-electing S. Abdildin and N. Aryngaziyev, leaving seven directors, a KASE notice says. The company's two shareholders are Unit Telecom LLP, with 4,228,572 common shares, and Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, with 1,409,525, the dividend decision in its annual meeting results shows. That is roughly 75 and 25 per cent.

Alma Telecommunications Kazakhstan, listed under the ticker ALTV, replaced most of its board on 30 September. Yerzhan Aldar and T. Kosacheva left, and E. Gumarov, A. Mukasheva, G. Mazhitova, D. Tungushbayev and I. Ishmukhamedov were elected, leaving a board of five, a KASE notice says. The notice does not identify the shareholder behind the change.

QMobile, formerly Jusan Mobile, changed its board by a decision of its sole shareholder on 25 September, leaving four members, a KASE notice says. As of 1 July, Assets Logistics and Property Group LLP held all of its outstanding common shares, the company's disclosure shows.

In each of the five companies, a single shareholder or a state body holds a controlling stake, the filings cited above show. On the July figures, holders other than Kazakhtelecom and KC Holding owned 34.13 per cent of Kcell, and holders other than Samruk-Kazyna owned 8.73 per cent of Kazakhtelecom's outstanding common shares. Those residual stakes are the most that could be in free float; the disclosures do not say how much of them trades. Board decisions at three of the companies were taken by general meetings in which one shareholder controls the vote, and at QMobile by the sole shareholder directly.

The filings do not give reasons for any of the changes. They also do not say whether the new Kazakhtelecom director will sit on the board of Kcell, where Kazakhtelecom's 51 per cent stake gives it control. Kcell's own extraordinary meeting is scheduled for 17 November, a KASE notice says, and the shareholder registers as of 1 October, due on the exchange in the coming weeks, will be the next point at which any change in these holdings would show.

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The statement, datelined Dubai, Almaty and Jersey City, says Amdocs will also provide long-term cost predictability across VEON's IT operations in Eurasia. Neither company disclosed the value of the contract.

The Amdocs release says Amdocs will use certain intellectual property rights of QazCode, a VEON group company, and integrate QazCode's technology into aOS, its agentic operating system for telecom operators. QazCode is the exclusive digital partner of Beeline Kazakhstan and has more than 750 employees, the statement says. Its portfolio includes private large language models, full-cycle implementation of business support systems and IT outsourcing, and it works in Central Asia, Europe and the Middle East, the release adds. The statement does not say whether any QazCode staff or assets will move to Amdocs, or whether QazCode will keep its other customers.

Kaan Terzioglu, VEON's chief executive, said in the VEON release that digital and AI services already account for "about 27% of VEON's Group revenue". Anthony Goonetilleke, group president for new growth horizons at Amdocs, said in the same statement that the agreement "expands Amdocs' presence in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and the wider Eurasia region".

VEON describes itself in the release as serving more than 150 million connectivity customers and more than 228 million digital customers across five countries. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are the two corridor markets named, and Beeline Kazakhstan is the only operating company mentioned. The statement does not list which operating companies' systems fall under the agreement, how the transfer of operations will be phased, or whether existing IT supply contracts in those markets will be replaced.

The deal is an outsourcing arrangement rather than an acquisition: the release describes Amdocs using QazCode intellectual property rights, not buying the company. The financial effect on VEON's costs is not quantified. VEON is due to report its third-quarter results on 6 November, according to a company announcement, which would be the first set of accounts published since the agreement was signed.

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The ministry also signed framework memorandums with Microsoft and a Franklin Templeton company on 25 and 26 September. None of the four releases gives an amount, a site or a timetable.

Minister Rashad Nabiyev met Connor Teskey, Brookfield's chief executive, as part of the 2nd Azerbaijan International Investment Forum, the ministry said. The talks covered transport and logistics, port infrastructure, digital infrastructure and data centres, and the two sides exchanged views on "identifying potential joint investment projects and developing a portfolio of investment projects", the release adds.

Mr Nabiyev also met Adebayo Ogunlesi, GIP's founding partner, chairman and chief executive, at the forum. That release lists potential participation in regional projects, including the development of the Middle Corridor, and investment opportunities in logistics, digital infrastructure and data centres.

The Microsoft memorandum was signed on 25 September by Deputy Minister Samaddin Asadov, AZCON Holding chief executive Shahin Babayev and Gabriela Popescu, regional general manager at Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited. It "provides for the exploration of potential cooperation opportunities between the parties", and the terms of specific projects are to be agreed at the next stage, the ministry said.

The second memorandum, signed on 26 September by the ministry, AZCON Holding and Templeton Asset Management Ltd., a member of the Franklin Templeton group, sets out a framework for establishing and managing an investment platform within the AZCON Holding portfolio, the ministry said. The release says the cooperation is intended to improve the management and efficiency of state-owned enterprises and to attract strategic investment. It does not name the companies that would sit on the platform.

None of the four documents describes a binding commitment. The Brookfield and GIP releases record discussions, and both memorandums are described as general frameworks for future cooperation. No data centre location, capacity, investment figure or partner company is named in any of them, and the releases do not say when the talks will continue or what the next step would be.

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The two bonds carry fixed coupons of 15.57 per cent and 18.33 per cent. On the larger issue, NITCb2 (ISIN KZ2C00015253), NIT paid a second coupon of KZT 1,167,750,000 and redeemed KZT 3.0 billion of face value, 20 per cent of the principal, the company's letter to the exchange shows. The coupon is fixed at 15.57 per cent a year for the life of the bonds and is paid twice a year. On those figures the issue's original principal was KZT 15 billion, and KZT 12 billion remains outstanding after the instalment.

On the smaller issue, NITCb3 (ISIN KZ2C00015279), it paid a second coupon of KZT 449,085,000 and redeemed KZT 980 million, also 20 per cent of principal, the second letter shows. That bond's fixed coupon is 18.33 per cent, which implies an original principal of KZT 4.9 billion, of which KZT 3.92 billion remains.

How the bonds amortise

Both prospectuses provide for repayment in equal 20 per cent instalments, the first after the end of the second coupon period and then every 12 months from the start of circulation for the rest of the term, the letters show. The face value of each bond is KZT 1,000. The September payment was the first instalment on each issue, the KASE summaries of the NITCb2 and NITCb3 redemptions show.

Adding the four amounts, NIT paid KZT 1,616,835,000 in interest and KZT 3,980,000,000 in principal, a total of KZT 5,596,835,000, on the company's own figures. The exchange's separate coupon notices for NITCb2 and NITCb3 record payment on 11 September; the second notice refers to the NITCb2 ISIN in its text, an apparent error in the exchange summary, while the company's letter gives the NITCb3 figures.

The gap of 2.76 percentage points between the two fixed coupons is not explained in the filings, which do not give the issue dates, the investors or the use of proceeds. The letters are signed by the company's managing director for finance.

Who owns NIT

NIT's sole shareholder is the Government Property and Privatization Committee of the Ministry of Finance of Kazakhstan, which holds all 57,835,401 authorised and outstanding common shares, a shareholder disclosure as of 1 July shows. The company's board elected A.M. Ibraev as deputy chairman of the management board on 24 August, leaving a five-member management board, a KASE notice says.

With 20 per cent of each issue repaid, the remaining principal on the two bonds is KZT 15.92 billion. On the prospectus schedule set out in the letters, the next instalments fall due 12 months after this one, alongside the semi-annual coupons. Because the bonds amortise, coupon payments will fall as principal is repaid, so the September payments are likely to be among the largest the company makes on these issues.

On the stated terms, and assuming no early redemption, the next semi-annual coupon would be about KZT 934 million on NITCb2 and about KZT 359 million on NITCb3, a calculation from the coupon rates and remaining principal in the two letters. At a face value of KZT 1,000, the original issues amounted to 15 million and 4.9 million bonds respectively.

Other Kazakh telecom and IT issuers are also active on the exchange. Transtelecom has called a meeting of holders of its TCOMb1 bonds for 30 October with an agenda that includes amending the coupon rate, according to a KASE notice.

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The buyback was authorised by a board resolution dated 11 September and disclosed on 14 September. It allows the company to spend up to TL 2,500,000,000 on buying back up to 2,000,000,000 of its own shares, with a nominal value of TL 20,000,000, over a period of up to three years, according to the disclosure. The board said the aim was "to support healthy pricing in the capital markets for our Company's shares". The chief executive and chief financial officer are jointly authorised to carry out the purchases, and shareholders will be informed at the next general assembly.

The previous programme, launched by the board on 8 February 2023, ended the same day because its three-year validity period had expired, a separate notice says.

First purchases

The company bought 375,000 shares on 23 September, 365,000 on 25 September and 474,000 on 29 September under the new programme, according to three disclosures (23 September, 25 September, 29 September). That is 1,214,000 shares across the three days. After the last purchase the company held 1,714,000 TTKOM shares, or 0.0489 per cent of its share capital. The notices do not give prices or amounts spent, and the 23 September notice implies that 500,000 shares were already held before that day's purchase.

At that pace the programme is small against its ceiling. The 1,714,000 shares held at the end of September are less than 0.1 per cent of the 2 billion shares the board has authorised, on the company's own figures.

Sukuk at home and abroad

TTNET's board resolved on 14 September that an asset leasing company it authorises will issue the TL 7,500,000,000 of lease certificates, with TTNET as the fund user, in maturities of up to five years, according to the disclosure. They would be sold in one or more tranches as private placements or to qualified investors in the domestic market, without a public offering, subject to capital markets legislation.

The TTNET programme is larger and longer-dated than the one approved ten days later by its main rival. Turkcell's board resolved on 24 September that its financing subsidiary may issue up to TRY 6 billion of domestic lease certificates with maturities of up to 12 months, subject to Capital Markets Board approval, according to a Turkcell announcement. Neither company has disclosed pricing for the planned issues.

The domestic programme sits alongside a larger overseas plan. On 16 July the Türk Telekom board resolved to issue foreign currency or lira lease certificates of up to USD 1 billion, or its equivalent, abroad within one year of Capital Markets Board approval, through an asset leasing company that had yet to be established, according to a July disclosure. No sale under that resolution appears in the disclosures published up to 17 October.

The group has used the structure before. In October 2025 its group company TT Varlık Kiralama A.Ş. sold USD 600 million of five-year lease certificates to qualified investors abroad at a coupon of 6.50 per cent, redeemable on 30 October 2030 and listed on Euronext Dublin, according to a disclosure dated 28 October 2025.

Türk Telekom also paid the coupon on its green bond with ISIN XS3194824747 on 7 October, according to a notice that gives no amount. Its third-quarter results are the next scheduled disclosure that would show how much has been spent on the buyback and whether any of the lease certificate programmes has been used.

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The issue was placed privately, without a public offering, within a TRY 15 billion issuance limit approved by the Capital Markets Board on 17 June 2026, the announcement shows. Ak Yatırım Menkul Değerler advised on it. The compound annual rate is 42.46 per cent, and the bills are not traded on the exchange.

Cheaper rollover

The two series repaid on 25 September, ISIN codes TRFTCEL92610 and TRFTCEL92628, each had a nominal amount of TRY 500 million and a 93-day maturity, and both were sold on 23 and 24 June at 40.25 per cent, according to Turkcell's first and second redemption notices. Both were issued under the same TRY 15 billion limit.

On the company's own figures, the October bills cost 3.25 percentage points less in simple annual interest than the June series. They also replace only half the nominal amount repaid in September. The announcements do not say whether Turkcell plans further issues under the limit before the end of the year, and they do not give the amount still unused.

Turkcell's board also resolved on 24 September that its wholly owned subsidiary Turkcell Finansman A.Ş. may issue management agreement-based lease certificates, or sukuk, of up to TRY 6 billion, according to a separate announcement. The certificates would have maturities of up to 12 months, would be issued in the domestic market in one or more tranches through an asset leasing company based in Türkiye, and would be sold by private placement or to institutional investors. The issues require Capital Markets Board approval, the announcement says.

Money moving inside the group

The same weeks brought two capital injections into subsidiaries. The capital of Turktell Bilişim Servisleri A.Ş., a wholly owned subsidiary, was increased by TRY 8 billion to TRY 45,220,306,252, with Turkcell paying its share fully in cash, according to an announcement dated 22 September. The notice does not say what the money will fund.

The board also resolved to increase the capital of CJSC Belarusian Telecommunications Network (BeST), its Belarusian subsidiary, by USD 7 million, according to an announcement dated 24 September. A first instalment of USD 5 million is due in October 2026 and a second of USD 2 million in December, the notice says.

Separately, Turkcell confirmed on 31 August that discussions were continuing after media reports that it and the Türkiye Wealth Fund were in talks over the acquisition of shares in Türkiye'nin Otomobili Girişim Grubu San. ve Tic. A.Ş., the carmaker known as Togg. "Within the framework of its investment strategies, our Company may engage in discussions regarding its portfolio of subsidiaries", the company said in the announcement, which gave no terms. No further statement on the matter appears among its investor announcements up to 17 October.

Taken together, the announcements published between 22 September and 9 October record TRY 1 billion of bills repaid, TRY 500 million of new bills sold, authority for up to TRY 6 billion of lease certificates, TRY 8 billion of new capital in Turktell and USD 7 million committed to BeST. None of them gives a use of proceeds. The lease certificate programme would, if approved and fully used, be twelve times the size of the October bill issue, and its maturities of up to a year would be longer than the 91 days of the latest bills. Turkcell's third-quarter results are the next scheduled disclosure that would show how the short-term issues sit within its overall borrowing.

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The bondholder meeting for issue KZ2C00006344 is set for 30 October. Its agenda includes amending the coupon interest rate and making corresponding changes to the issue prospectus, the KASE notice of 15 October says. The notice does not give the current or proposed rate, and the accompanying information document filed with the exchange is a scanned image. Whether the change raises or lowers the coupon is therefore not disclosed in the text.

A full payout

At the annual general meeting on 28 September, shareholders directed 100 per cent of Transtelecom's 2025 net profit, KZT 1,406,314,000, to dividends on common shares, and added KZT 2,147,019,900 from retained earnings formed in 2024, according to the meeting results filed with KASE. The total dividend for 2025 was set at KZT 3,553,333,900, or KZT 630.23 per share. The filing puts the company's total retained earnings at KZT 37,112,463,000.

The same document shows how the payout splits. Unit Telecom LLP, which holds 4,228,572 common shares, is due KZT 2,664,999,952, and the national railway company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (NC KTZ), which holds 1,409,525 shares, is due KZT 888,333,948, according to the filing. On those share counts Unit Telecom holds about 75 per cent of the common shares and KTZ about 25 per cent.

Transtelecom paid Unit Telecom's KZT 2,664,999,952 on 29 September, according to a payment notice, which records the total due to shareholders as KZT 3,553,333,900. The notice does not mention a payment to KTZ. The meeting decision allows payment within 90 calendar days, the results show, so KTZ's share may still be pending. The exchange summary describes the payment as dividends for 2024 and 2025 and gives a dividend per share of KZT 2,577.75 for 2024 and KZT 630.23 for 2025. That split does not reconcile with the meeting decision, which sets a single total for 2025 and a single per-share amount, and neither filing explains the difference.

Shareholders took decisions on seven agenda items in all, including approval of the audited consolidated and separate financial statements for 2025, according to the exchange summary. The filed results also list a review of shareholder appeals about the actions of the company and its officials and the board's report on its work in 2025.

Board reshuffle

The annual meeting also called an extraordinary meeting for 5 October on the early termination of board members' powers, the election of directors and their remuneration, according to the results. At that meeting T. Iskakov, S. Abdildin and N. Aryngaziyev were removed from the board and B. Mukazhanov, S. Abdildin and N. Aryngaziyev were elected, leaving a seven-member board, a KASE notice of 9 October says. Mr Mukazhanov signed the dividend notice as deputy chairman of the management board and chief financial officer.

The board of directors had already changed the management board on 30 September. It removed Mr Abdildin, whom the annual meeting results name as chairman of the management board, and elected Mr Mukazhanov chairman of the management board and T. Iskakov deputy chairman and chief financial officer, leaving it with six members, according to another notice of 7 October and the decision filed with KASE.

Neither the dividend decision nor the bond notice explains the company's funding plans. A full distribution of profit plus retained earnings, followed about two and a half weeks later by a request to reprice existing debt, puts the 30 October vote at the centre of the company's financing for the rest of the year. Results of the bondholder meeting are due to be disclosed on the exchange.

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