KKTC Telsim
Vodafone Mobile Operations Ltd. or legally KKTC Telsim is the first GSM operator in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. It was granted a licence in August 1995, and started service accepting subscribers on 23 October 1995. The company was a subsidiary of Telsim Group in Turkey, part of the Uzan Group. When Telsim was taken over by the Vodafone Group on 23 August 2006, it became a subsidiary of the global Vodafone Group. The company still operates under the brand KKTC Telsim in Northern Cyprus, although in Turkey Telsim has been rebranded Vodafone. This is due to  Vodafone Group having a partnership agreement with the Cytamobile-Vodafone network in Southern Cyprus. The exclusive agreement on the use of the Vodafone brandname covers the entire territory claimed by Republic of Cyprus, thus including Northern Cyprus so the use of the Vodafone brand by a company other than Cytamobile is not allowed on the entire island of Cyprus. KKTC Telsim also provides Vodafone TV service in North Cyprus. Subscribers. KKTC Telsim has approx. 300,000 subscribers. KKTC Telsim competes with KKTC Turkcell, a subsidiary of the Turkcell network in Turkey. Although Turkcell arrived some 4 years later, it quickly overtook  KKTC Telsim to take a larger market share. As of 2016, Turkcell has approx. 500,000 subscribers in Northern Cyprus.