Türk Telekom's net debt is 1.00x EBITDA after 5G payments, Turkcell's 0.36x

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, its second-quarter results release said, while Turkcell reported 0.36 times in its Form 6-K.

The release links the rise to payments for the concession extension and the 5G licence. The two documents describe net debt differently. Turkcell's figure leaves out its payables to the Treasury, which include 5G licence fees, and Türk Telekom's release does not say whether its licence obligations are included.

The 5G licences entered commercial use on 1 April, Türk Telekom and Turkcell said. Vodafone Türkiye, the third licensee, is not covered here.

What the licences cost

The auction raised USD 2.95 billion, with Turkcell committing USD 1.22 billion, Türk Telekom about USD 1.1 billion and Vodafone Türkiye USD 627 million, MEA Tech Watch reported. Turkcell's filing puts its licence at USD 1.2 billion excluding VAT and says its authorisation runs to 31 December 2042.

Turkcell's total capex was TL 106.8 billion in the first half, about twice the TL 53.6 billion of a year earlier, the filing shows. Licence and related costs were TL 59.8 billion, against TL 0.3 billion, and operational capex, which excludes licence fees, was TL 33.6 billion, or 23.2 per cent of revenue.

Türk Telekom does not report a standalone 5G figure. Its first-half capex including solar investment, the concession extension and mobile licence fees was TL 189.6 billion, against TL 28.8 billion a year earlier, its release shows. Excluding those items it was TL 41.4 billion, or 29.1 per cent of revenue.

How the bills are carried

Turkcell's first-quarter cash outflows included USD 653 million, including VAT, for the first instalment of the licence and the wireless usage fee, the filing shows. Türk Telekom's unlevered free cash flow was minus TL 46.4 billion in the half, against plus TL 20.4 billion a year earlier, mainly because of the first instalment of the 5G licence fee and VAT payments on the licence and the concession extension. Excluding those payments it was TL 3.5 billion, the release says.

Turkcell's net debt was TL 44.5 billion, up from TL 17.5 billion at the end of 2025, the filing says, while Türk Telekom's was TL 122.4 billion, against TL 74.2 billion a year earlier, its release shows. Turkcell's consolidated debt rose to TL 212.1 billion from TL 186.8 billion, mainly because of a USD 1 billion Murabaha syndicated loan arranged in March.

Corridor Signal calculated that Turkcell's net debt equals that consolidated debt less cash of TL 89.3 billion and financial assets of TL 78.3 billion, using the balance sheet and Note 12 of the filing, and the same sum gives TL 17.5 billion for the end of 2025. A footnote says the calculation includes financial assets at fair value and at amortised cost. Türk Telekom's release says only that its net debt includes the mark-to-market value of currency swaps.

Amounts owed to the Treasury are not in that sum. Turkcell's payables to the Treasury and Finance Ministry, which include 5G licence payables, were TL 35.9 billion at 30 June, against TL 26.6 million at the end of 2025, and the filing reports them within amounts due to related parties rather than borrowings. Türk Telekom's net short currency position of USD 2.4 billion includes USD 2.8 billion of concession and mobile licence obligations. Without them it would be long USD 331 million, its release says.

Earnings, guidance and sector spending

Türk Telekom's depreciation and amortisation rose 25.8 per cent to TL 16.8 billion in the second quarter, and net financial expense rose 91.6 per cent to TL 19.3 billion, mainly on foreign-exchange losses on the concession extension and 5G licence obligations and on hedging costs, its release says. Turkcell's depreciation and amortisation rose 9.1 per cent to TL 20.6 billion on its 5G investments and licence, and its margin fell to 41.8 per cent from 43.5 per cent, which it attributes to marketing spending after the launch and the mix of corporate projects, the filing says.

Türk Telekom's mobile ARPU excluding M2M fell 5.9 per cent in the quarter, and it expects ARPU growth to turn positive in the second half. It expects revenue growth of about 8 per cent, the lower end of its range, and capex intensity of about 34 per cent, the upper end, the release says. Turkcell expects pricing actions to support ARPU growth, particularly from the end of the fourth quarter, and maintained guidance of 5 to 7 per cent real revenue growth and an EBITDA margin of 40 to 42 per cent, its filing says.

Across the sector, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said second-quarter investment rose 86.9 per cent year on year to TL 55.6 billion, Anadolu Agency reported. BTK's first-quarter report, which counts the 5G tender prices as investment, put spending by TT Mobil, Turkcell, Türk Telekom and Vodafone at about TL 255 billion, against TL 15.7 billion a year earlier. With TL 7.9 billion from other operators, the first-quarter total was about TL 263 billion, and the second-quarter figure is about a fifth of that, by Corridor Signal's calculation.