Türk Telekom's investment in Avea resulted from its previous ownership of Aycell, which was its mobile subsidiary. In 2000, Türk Telekom was awarded a GSM 1800 license by the Telecommunications Authority. In 2001, TT reorganized its operations, contributing its mobile communications assets into its newly created subsidiary, Aycell. In May 2003, Türk Telekom agreed with Is-TIM, a joint venture between Telecom Italia Mobile and Isbank, which offered GSM services under the Aria brand, to merge their Aycell and Aria operations into a new company. This company was formed in February 2004 and named TT&TIM Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. The Avea brand was officially launched on 23 June 2004. 

Avea is the third largest mobile operator in Turkey with an approximate 18.5% market share based on number of registered SIM cards as of 31 December 2008. At that date, Avea had approximately 12.2 million customers, of which approximately 8.1 million were pre-paid customers and approximately 4.1 million were post-paid customers. Avea offers a range of mobile communications services, including traditional and value-added voice services, international roaming services and data services (including SMS, GPRS and EDGE). For the year ended 31 December 2008, Avea had revenue of TL 2,113 million and EBITDA of TL 446 million.