Turkcell names Ali Taha Koç as new CEO

Turkish telco Turkcell, which operates the TV+ IPTV offering, has named Turksat chairman Ali Taha Koç as its new CEO.

Ali Taha Koç

Koç replaces Bulent Aksu, who left shortly after taking up his post last month, with no reason for his departure being given by the company. Asku, who had served as chair of Turkcell, had in turn replaced Murat Erkan, who left after four years in the role.

Koç was previously head of the Turkish presidential office of digital transformation. He began his career as an R&D engineer with intel in the US, where he filed some 61 patents. Returning to Turkey in 2014, Koç became an advisor to the Turkish government, and was subsequently appointed as the Turkish president’s director of information technologies, where he managed the establishment of the Presidential State Information Coordination Center, which ensures the flow of information from all ministries and security organisations.

Appointed as head of the presidential digital transformation office in 2018, Koç is also the chairman of satellite operator Türksat and sits on the board of directors.

Turkcell reported in June that its TV+ offering had about 2.3 million subscribers. The company recently struck a deal with local content provider Exxen, which holds the rights to UEFA Champions League football among other things, to include Exxen content on its super-aggregator platform.