UPDATE 1-Turkcell Q3 profit falls 45 pct on competition, economy

* Q3 revenue falls 23 pct, meets estimates

* Q3 EBITDA falls 35 pct to $545.4 mln

Nov 12 (Reuters) - Mobile phone operator Turkcell (TCELL.IS) on Thursday posted a third-quarter net profit of $332.9 million, down 45 percent, as deep economic recession in Turkey and fierce competition continued to impact performance.

Turkcell said in a statement that it had taken steps to minimize the impact of unlimited flat rate offers triggered by competition and was now seeing signs of more rational behaviour beginning at the end of the quarter.

Turkcell, which issued its results a week later than anticipated due to a technical problem, said revenue in the quarter fell 22.8 percent to $1.59 billion.

The average forecast in a Reuters poll of 13 analysts was for net profit of $353 million on revenue of $1.59 billion.

The mobile operator, market leader in Turkey with a subscriber share of around 56 percent, had warned early in 2009 its performance would be adversely affected by the poor macroeconomic environment in the country, where the economy is seen falling around 6 percent in 2009 as a whole.

Turkey's economic downturn has seen people drastically reduce their phone use, and multiple SIM users discard extra cards in favour of one operator.

Consumers' cost cuts have also coincided with a period of new market liberalisation in the country, including mobile number portability, intensifying competition to an unprecedented degree.

Analysts are hoping new 3G services, which are in their infancy in Turkey, can help mobile phone operators improve performance and bring an end to a vicious price-war.

Turkcell said it expected 2010 revenue and EBITDA to be helped by improvements in the economic climate and consumer confidence combined with growth in its mobile broadband business, a "more rational market", and the increasing profitability of its units.

Turkcell posted a 42 percent fall in net profit in the second-quarter to $245.8 million, blaming a weaker Turkish lira and provisions set aside for litigation which impacted net profit by 123 million lira ($84.4 million).

Last month, it said it is facing a 258 million lira tax fine and an investigation by the regulator into its fees. Last week, the regulator said it may fine Turkcell.

Turkcell also owns Ukraine's Astelit, and has operations in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Moldova. (Reporting by Savio D'Souza in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)