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companies in VAT economies are expected to exchange more than 75 percent of all invoices electronically with tax administrations in real time or very shortly after the invoice-exchange process," Sovos CEO Andy Hovancik said.
A Turkish watchdog has fined Facebook TRY1.6mn ($270,000) for a data breach. The Personal Data Protection Authority (KVKK) said some 300,000 people in Turkey might have been affected by the breach. There are some 43mn Facebook users in Turkey, a country of 82mn people. In September last year, the country’s competition authority fined Google TRY93mn for violating competition laws with mobile software sales. Also, in January this year, the same regulator launched an investigation into Google businesses to probe whether Google algorithmic and Adword updates were causing difficulties for local companies that amounted to an abuse of the search engine giant’s dominant position on the market.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX wants to launch Turkey's first domestically-built satellite, an official from the country’s satellite operator told state-run news service Anadolu. In 2017, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Musk met in Ankara to discuss possible satellite cooperation between Tesla, SpaceX and Turkish firms, as well as the situation with electric cars. The Turkish satellite operator Turksat currently has two missions to launch satellites with SpaceX, with a plan to launch the 5A satellite next year, the company's general manager Cenk Sen said. Turksat is one of the region’s leading communication companies. It provides voice, data, internet, TV, and radio broadcasting services through its satellites, covering a geographical area extending from Europe to Asia. The company also operates a cable TV platform to supply broadcasting services to domestic subscribers. Last month, UK Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox said that the British government would support an Airbus contract to manufacture and deliver two satellites for Turksat. “UK Export Finance will support an Airbus Defence and Space UK contract worth nearly $500 million to manufacture and deliver two satellites and a ground station for Turksat,” Fox told parliament in late April. Fox’s department said UK Export Finance was providing a guarantee to support a loan of $325mn to the Turkish Ministry of Treasury and Finance to enable the purchase.
9.2.8 Tourism corporate news
Spain’s Barcelo plans to increase the number of hotels it operates in Turkey to 20 from the current three by investing a total of €100mn over the next five years. Barcelo Hotel Group will particularly focus on Istanbul, Ankara, and the major tourist destinations Izmir, Antalya and Cappadocia. The company’s 5-star hotel in Istanbul’s busy Taksim district was inaugurated on May 3. “We have been operating in Turkey for 20 years now. We believe in this market and its potential. That is why we want to open 17 more hotels over the next five years,” Hasan Ekmen, Barcelo Turkey’s general manager, told local press in Istanbul at the inauguration of the company’s third hotel in the country. Ekmen added that the Spanish group has invested a total of €60mn in Turkey to date. Barcelo operates more than 250 hotels in 25 countries.
9.2.9 Utilities corporate news
Enerjisa, an energy joint venture between E.On and Turkish conglomerate Sabanci, has said that it expects operational earnings between TRY4.6bn to TRY4.9bn (€739mn) this year. Enerjisa is engaged in the electricity distribution and sales businesses. It provides electricity to more than 9mn consumers in Turkey’s 14 provinces. The company reported on May 6 that its net income climbed to TRY297mn in the first quarter of 2019 from TRY243mn a year earlier. Its revenues increased to TRY4.4bn from TRY4.06bn. According to the company’s financials submitted to the stock exchange, Enerjisa’s gross profit was TRY1.3bn in Q1 this year versus TRY1bn in the first quarter of 2018. “As the majority of Enerjisa revenue is
108 TURKEY Country Report June 2019 www.intellinews.com