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A mobile (cell) phone
is very useful in Turkey, and you'll
see Turks using them everywhere. But
as a foreigner, you should be aware
that several years ago, the Turkish
government passed a law requiring all
mobile phones used in Turkey to be
registered with
the government. Not just the SIM
card,
but the handset itself.
The reason
given is that registration
helps prevent terrorist acts (terrorists are known
to use mobile phones to detonate bombs).
However, it now appears that the real
reason may be to promote purchases
of mobile phones in Turkey.
Messages I have received from travelers
visiting Turkey with their non-Turkish
mobile phones indicate that your foreign,
unregistered GSM
mobile phone will operate
in Turkey on a Turkish
mobile phone company's network, either
via international
roaming or with a Turkish
SIM card, for
one to two months before being excluded
from the network as an "unregistered"
phone. When it is excluded, it is very
difficult if not impossible to have
it reactivated on a Turkish network.
In other words, if you stay in Turkey
for longer than a one- or two-month
visit, you will probably have to purchase
a new mobile phone from a Turkish company.
Here, according to a Turkish
Consular website, is the way it's supposed to
work:
Turkish and foreign visitors are entitled
to bring one mobile phone into Turkey
each calendar year for use during their
stay in Turkey. A personal mobile phone
brought into Turkey in this manner
is exempt from tax and duty.
It is necessary to register
the mobile phone in order
to use it with a SIM
card bought from a Turkish
network operator. Unregistered
phones will be blocked and unable
to receive or make calls. There
is no charge levied
for this registration, and no customs
documents are required.
Take your mobile phone and your passport to
a shop of a Turkish
Network Operator (Avea, Turkcell
or Telsim). Buy a SIM
card, and the clerk will register
the SIM card's mobile phone number
with your handset's IMEI
number, and with your personal
information.
I have never seen a place to register
foreign mobile phones at any airport
in Turkey.
There is supposedly a system in
place for registering
a foreign mobile phone with a Turkish
mobile phone operator after entering
Turkey, but as of April 2008, the
system didn't work, and there
was a backlog of Turkish and foreign
mobile-phone users waiting to register.
So registering, at the moment, can
be a long, complicated, frustrating
and potentially unsuccessful process.
In effect, you are pretty much forced
to purchase a Turkish mobile phone
if you plan to stay in Turkey for more
than a month or two.
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