General Director of Turkey's GSM Operator, Turkcell, said on Thursday that the company was planning to invest one billion lira in technology and infrastructure in the second half of 2011.

"Turkcell also plans to employ 2,000 more people in call centers," Director General Sureyya Ciliv told a news conference in Istanbul while making public Turkcell's second quarter financial results for 2011.

Ciliv said the company experienced a shrinkage in the first quarter of the year over the same period of 2010, "growth was put on the right track again in the second quarter," he said.

He said company revenue increased 8 percent in the second quarter of the year and amounted to 2.2 billion lira.

There was 21 million lira loss in the second quarter net profit of Turkcell Group because of the 70 percent devaluation in Belarus.

Turkcell's group revenue amounted to 4.4 billion lira in the second half of 2011, and net profit in the first half of the year was 309 million lira.

There was increase in number of subscribers after a long time. Number of total subscribers increased to 34.1 million.

Mobile internet income of the company increased 55 percent annually and mobile internet and service revenues became 462 million lira.

"The company thinks its growth will accelerate in the second half. We plan to invest one billion lira to technology and infrastructure in the second half of 2011 and create job opportunities to 2,000 people in call centers in Anatolia.

Turkcell, Turkey's biggest GSM operator, declared 330 million Turkish lira-TL (197.8 million USD) net profit in the first quarter of 2011. Turkcell's income in the first quarter was posted as 2.1 billion TL (1.25 billion USD).

AA