Adil Karaismailoglu, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, stated that 5G is closely followed by all developed and developing countries, as it is the key point of advanced technologies and data security, and said, “I can clearly say that we are taking firm steps to switch to 5G technology with domestic and national opportunities.”
Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoglu opened Turkcell’s European Data Center in Kapakli district of Tekirdag. Minister Karaismailoglu, speaking at the ceremony attended by Tekirdag Governor Aziz Yildirim, AK Party Tekirdag Deputy Cigdem Koncagul, Turkcell Chairman of the Board Bulent Aksu, Turkcell General Manager Murat Erkan and guests, he stated that the transportation and communication sectors are at the center of social and economic life, they always prioritize domestic and national approaches in the fields of informatics, communication and communication. And the information and data that gave its name to the era we live in add strength to the power of the people, institutions and countries that own it. Noting that 5G is at the top of these technologies, Karaismailoglu said:
“In this context, as 5G is the key point of advanced technologies and data security, it is an issue that all developed and developing countries closely follow and work on. Many countries in the world and Europe are working on commissioning the commercial 5G service after 5G trials. The number of users using 5G in the next 4 years is expected to reach 1 billion. In our country, 4.5G service started in 2016 and both the infrastructure became widespread throughout the country and the subscribers started to benefit from this service immediately. Currently, our mobile subscriber base is 83.6 million, of which 78.5 million are 4.5G subscribers. The fact that 93% of total mobile subscribers have switched to 4.5G in the past 5 years is a great success, and it is an indication that technologies such as 5G in the future will become widespread in our country. In this respect, we make our plans for 5G technologies by prioritizing our domestic and national opportunities. As part of the End-to-End Domestic and National 5G Project, we are developing critical network hardware and software specific to 5G technology, such as 5G base station, 5G core network, 5G operational and administrative software. The first phase of the project was completed by the end of March this year, R&D processes were completed, prototypes of the products were prepared. As you may remember, we introduced the prototypes of the products developed in this process to the public with the ‘5G Domestic Products Launch’ held on June 23, 2021. I can clearly say that we are taking firm steps forward to move to 5G technology with domestic and national opportunities.”
‘INTERNET USE INCREASED BY 39% IN FIXED AND 31% IN MOBILE’
Stating that it is extremely important for the Covid-19 process, which is challenging the whole world in every sense, to accelerate information and communication investments in order to meet the increasing demand, Karaismailoglu said, “The electronic communication sector of our country has achieved a great success by growing by 8.8% in the first half of 2021. I would like to share with you brief information about the progress we have made in communication and communication and the point we have reached. Among the transportation and communication investments we made throughout the country between 2003 and 2021, a large amount of over ₺92 billion was important for the development of the communication sector. We increased our fiber line length from 88 thousand kilometers to 445 thousand kilometers, and the number of fixed broadband subscribers to 17.4 million. The number of fiber subscribers in fixed infrastructures increased from 154 thousand in 2010 to 4.3 million today. While the number of our mobile subscribers was 28 million in 2010, it has exceeded 84.6 million today. The number of broadband subscribers reached 85.7 million. While the number of our communication subscribers between machines was 1 million 56 thousand in 2001, it is 7 million today. While all these positive developments were experienced, the average tariff fee of our mobile operators, which was 8.6 cents per minute 10 years ago, has decreased to 1.3 cents today. The amount of internet usage increased by 39% in fixed and 31% in mobile on an annual basis compared to the same period of the previous year.”
‘NUMBER OF FIBER INTERNET SUBSCRIBERS EXCEEDED 4.2 MILLION’
Karaismailoglu shared the general figures as well as the data for 2021 and said, “Our number of subscribers in fiber internet, which was 3.4 million in the first quarter of 2020 in our country, has exceeded 4.2 million as of the first quarter of 2021. Our annual rate of increase is 25%. Internet usage stood at 7.3 million TBytes in the first quarter of 2020, compared to approximately 11.8 million TBytes in the same period of 2021. Our annual rate of increase is 62%. The monthly internet traffic per subscriber, which was 7.6 GB in mobile in the first quarter of 2020, increased to approximately 9.8 GB in the same period of 2021, and from 138.6 GB to 197.2 GB in fixed. Various projects, including the establishment and operation of communication infrastructures for the delivery of mobile voice and broadband internet services to rural settlements with a population of less than 500, where infrastructure cannot be provided by the operators due to economic and geographical difficulties, have been implemented by our ministry. We will continue to work with all our strength to serve our citizens better and to add new ones to these achievements.”
Karaismailoglu stated that they have reached serious figures in e-Devlet Gateway services, which is an important criterion in Turkey’s transition to an information society, “As of September 2021, 5 thousand 949 services are provided to our 56 million 300 thousand registered citizens and 816 institutions. A total of 5.5 billion transactions were carried out in the first 8 months of 2021 on the e-Devlet Gateway. We will continue to work for our citizens to reach electronic communication services of our workplaces, value-added services, e-government, other services of all public institutions and infrastructure needs of data centers.
‘TURKEY ENTERED INTO GROWTH TREND AGAIN DESPITE THE PANDEMIC PROCESS’
Underlining that the pandemic has caused countries to increase their investments in the information and communication sector, Karaismailoglu said, “The transition process of the world to digitalization has accelerated significantly. Countries that prepare themselves for this process, develop their infrastructure and take the necessary steps are profitable. Despite the difficult pandemic process, Turkey has entered a growth trend again. Our country, which grew by 7% in the first quarter of 2021, achieved a great growth rate of 21.7% in the second quarter. In this growth trend, the contribution of our public-private sector cooperation in the information and communication sector is great.”
‘TURKEY’S DATA MUST STAY IN TURKEY’
Karaismailoglu stated that they evaluate cyber security within the scope of national security and said, “As we stated in the National Cyber Security Strategy Document, we evaluate cyber security within the scope of national security. Because the issue of protecting data and data privacy has become an issue of great importance on the international arena. We are aware of the importance of data with all our institutions and organizations. Based on the view that Turkey’s data should stay in Turkey, it is extremely important that our institutions make their investments with this approach. ‘Domestic data center’ investments are indispensable for the privacy of the data of our country, our citizens and businesses that produce value for this country.”
Stating that data storage and backup is of vital importance in the information and communication sector against all kinds of natural disasters and physical and cyber attacks, Karaismailoglu said, “In this sense, the European Data Center of Turkcell, which we opened today, is a strong and redundant technology investment. The fact that the data center has a local rate of 75% is a valuable development. Our data center, designed and built to withstand earthquakes of magnitude 9, is extremely important in terms of information redundancy and security of data centers in Ankara, Izmir and Gebze. It should not be forgotten that these dizzying developments in the information and communication sector serve our people to communicate much more quickly, comfortably and uninterruptedly. This service becomes even more important in natural disasters. As you may remember, we took action quickly to meet the increasing mobile communication traffic in the region during the flood and fire disasters we experienced very recently. We put the additional mobile communication infrastructures needed into service in a very short time.”
Source: Sabah / Translated by Irem Yildiz