The combined brand of Neutral Tandem and Tinet has established a point of presence in Istanbul, which is hosted in a Turkcell Superonline data centre, and has established a local subsidiary to provide IP transit and Ethernet services.
Paolo Gambini, VP of product management and development for data services at Inteliquent, told Capacity that the company plans to connect to the under construction RCN cable and the JADI LINK, both of which pass through the city.
“For both internet traffic and Ethernet connectivity, Turkey has become, from the business dimension, a very interesting market and a gateway towards other surrounding regions,” said Gambini.
The 7,750km RCN is set to span from Fujairah, UAE, to Istanbul and onward to Europe, while the 2,530km JADI LINK will connect Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, to Istanbul, via Amman, Jordan and Damascus, Syria.
Gambini also said that cable systems being built in Georgia, Iraq and other nearby territories were likely to pass through Istanbul, presenting additional opportunities.
Turkey’s growing prominence as an internet hub was one of the main attractions for Inteliquent, which also sees the possibility of expanding to other surrounding countries as internet traffic increases and legislation and business environments improve.
The company had been eyeing Turkey for several years before announcing the move during this year’s Capacity Eurasia event last month.
“We’d been looking at Turkey for two to three years at least, but we felt for a number of different reasons the market was not ready for us or we were not ready for the market. Over the last few months things have changed, the partnership with Turkcell helped, and the development of new cable systems is helping to change the overall environment in the country,” said Gambini.
Last month, Intelliquent also formed a strategic alliance with South African operator Vox Telecom to provide voice and data services to southern Africa.
