Vodafone Telecommunication Corp. from Britain won the auction on Tuesday in Ankara for Telsim, the second biggest GSM mobile phone operator in Turkey, after offering the highest bid of 4.55 billion U.S. dollars.

Telsim's sale to Vodafone will be subject to the approval of the Savings Deposits Insurance Fund (TMSF) which conducted the auction, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

Vodafone defeated other five bidders for Telsim that has the estimated value of 2.8 billion US dollars.

Vodafone offered 4.55 billion dollars for Telsim, which was on sale by the state-run TMSF. The TMSF took over parts of Telsim last year for partial payment of debts owed by its parent corporation, the Uzan Group.

Vodafone, which has 165 million customers worldwide, won the televised auction after heated competition with Kuwait's Mobile Telecommunication Company (MTC), which offered 4.53 billion dollars.

Telsim, which has 9.7 million subscribers, has about 25 percent of the local market, according to company statistics. It has 2,000 employees.

The sale is a fresh boost to Ankara's efforts to attract foreign investment, seen as vital for the success of a recovery program backed by the International Monetary Fund aimed at bringing the Turkish economy closer to the standards of the European Union, which the country is seeking to join.

"We have plans to invest significantly in Telsim's infrastructure, to ensure superior network performance and greatly enhance customer service," Vodafone Group Director Andre Sokol said after his company won the bid.

"We will also introduce a wide range of products and services, enabling Turkish customers to benefit from the latest GSM offerings," he added.

"Over the last two years, the management and employees of Telsim have done a good job in difficult circumstances," Sokol said. "Our aim is to build on this platform and take the company onto much greater success."

Anatolia also quoted Turkish Transport Minister Binali Yildirim as saying "the price is quite good,... and we obtained a good result."

Source: Xinhua