At the 3rd Turkey 2023 Summit jointly organized by Sabah Newspaper and A Para, discussions were held on Turkey's efforts in domestic and national production.
Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, who participated in the panel, made important statements. Drawing attention to the contribution of the 21st century to technological progress, Sayan said, “Today, the traditional concept of independence has changed and become technology-focused. The most important condition for true independence is to reach a position where we design, develop, produce, and export technology. Technological sovereignty will be possible by reducing dependence on other countries. For this reason, as the Ministry, our primary goal is to develop a domestic and national ecosystem in the sector.”
Expressing their sensitivity on domestic and national production, Sayan stated, “We took important steps towards localization targets in the electronic communications sector with the localization obligations we set in the 4.5G tender. We see that the localization rate, which was 0.98% in the first investment period of 4.5G, exceeded 23% as of the 2018-2019 investment period. However, we are aware that there is still a long way to go. We do not belittle where we have come from, but we also do not deny the length of the road ahead. One of the fundamental building blocks of digital transformation is, of course, a strong communication infrastructure. In this context, 5G studies are among the issues we emphasize importantly. As the Ministry, our goal goes far beyond having our country among the countries using 5G. We want to produce 5G technology with domestic and national capabilities and market it to the world. In line with our President's expression, 'The real thing is not to acquire ready-made technology and learn its use, but to design, develop, and produce technology,' we aim to develop and produce 5G and beyond technologies with domestic and national capabilities.”
Deputy Minister Sayan: We Became One of the 4 Countries Producing eSIM Technology with Domestic and National Means
The Deputy Minister also touched upon the eSIM issue, which is an important step for Turkey. Sayan said, “Another of our studies related to electronic communications is the eSIM topic, which affects subscription models and machine-to-machine communication. eSIM is a type of programmable digital SIM card embedded directly into a device. eSIM is not a physical plastic card but a small chip integrated into smart devices. eSIM enables the change of the mobile operator remotely without any direct intervention to the device, i.e., without needing to change the SIM card. eSIM offers solutions both in end-user devices like smartphones and computers and in industries such as automotive and various fields. We can say that the greatest benefit provided by eSIM is the ability to change the mobile operator without physically changing the SIM card and to do so without intervening in the SIM card.”
Giving the good news that eSIM will be launched in our country in the near future, Sayan said, “In January, we received certification from the GSM Association and became one of the 4 countries producing eSIM technology with domestic and national means. eSIM architecture will provide significant conveniences both to M2M/IoT devices and to the devices our citizens use in daily life. eSIM technology will bring many advantages with it. The negative impacts of production processes on the environment will be minimized. Costs related to maintenance, access, repair, logistics, and stocking of cards will be eliminated. In the near future, we will start to see eSIM implementation examples in many areas and sectors. In this framework, BTK has made the necessary regulations for eSIM technology.”
Also mentioning the importance of ensuring cybersecurity, Sayan spoke about communication data in our country. Emphasizing that we once again understood the importance of information technologies and infrastructures during the Covid-19 pandemic we are going through, Sayan said, “During the pandemic process, we continued our economic life, education, social relations, and many areas with our strong information and communication technologies infrastructure. While life came to a standstill in many countries during the pandemic, at exactly this point, information technologies in our country came to the aid of people and economic sectors to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, and thanks to our communication infrastructure and technology, the alternatives produced ensured the continuation of work and daily life. When we compare the period when the effects of the pandemic were most intense with the same period last year, we see an increase of more than 50% in fixed and mobile broadband internet usage. Despite this intensity and the difficult working conditions brought by the pandemic, thanks to the intense efforts of our operators, no significant problems were experienced in networks and systems.”
Deputy Minister Sayan: We Must Produce Our Own Technology
Touching upon the importance of producing our own technology as a country, Sayan said, “While producing our own technology, we must also develop domestic and national services and content offered to users with these technologies. I would like to recall a statement from our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan here. He had said, 'I am not comfortable with buying and using a product in which we are not involved in any stage from design to production.' If we do not develop our own services and content, our citizens' data is used and processed by others, and great revenues are obtained from this. Actually, there are domestic alternatives to the services offered by global internet actors, but we need to diversify these alternatives and make them preferable by our citizens.”
Emphasizing that capacity building in digital transformation and the development of digital skills are important for countries, Sayan added that with the power taken from the “National Technology Move,” our country will rise to a pioneering level in every field.