Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu, President of the Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK), attended the 12th Transportation and Communications Council, organized by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and opened its doors yesterday.
In statements to an AA reporter during the event, Karagözoğlu provided information that the National Monitoring System, produced entirely domestically and nationally by ASELSAN and displayed at the stand, is currently being installed in the field.
Also sharing the current status of BTK Academy, Karagözoğlu stated that there is significant demand for BTK Academy, saying, "With the interest from our students, we have now exceeded 721 thousand registered students, and we add new trainings every day. The latest addition was English language courses. As you know, our sector, the information technologies sector, is heavily dependent on English, and there was intense demand from our students for this. To meet this demand, our courses have started, they are seeing serious interest, and we are receiving thanks. At BTK Academy, we constantly listen to our users and students. We try to add new trainings to BTK Academy based on their guidance. On this matter, I should say that we also have interest from middle school level students; they want to join the platform, and they can do so now with their families' approval. We are working on this; not only through e-Government but also to enable them to access education here just like before the pandemic, we are preparing this opportunity very soon. In addition to the online education provided on the platform, we will also be with our youth through physical trainings."
President Karagözoğlu: It's Not Just Road and Bridge Construction Investments, We Reach Our Citizens with Fiber Networks and Infrastructure Too
Karagözoğlu pointed out the importance of digitalization worldwide, especially with the pandemic period, and provided information on the studies and investments made in Turkey in this field. Drawing attention to the significant infrastructure investments made in Turkey over the last 20 years, Karagözoğlu said, "What we are talking about here is not just road and bridge construction investments; we also reach our citizens with fiber networks and infrastructure. Of course, its transformation is currently on our agenda. Transforming it into fiber to provide our citizens with faster internet, and along with reaching faster internet, actually focusing on the future of this business. For example, we are talking about 5G; when we talk about 5G, it also triggers the need for infrastructure. The fact that we can meet this infrastructure need today and are investing in it is necessary so that tomorrow we can truly realize the vision that 5G has outlined for us. At this point, together with our operators, we are working both to develop the infrastructure and to realize the promises of 5G and present them to our citizens."
President Karagözoğlu: We Will Make Every Effort to Reach Everyone Who Conveys Their Internet Demand to Us
President Karagözoğlu also provided information on the establishment of a "Joint Infrastructure Company," which has been on the agenda between Vodafone, Turkcell, and Türk Telekom for a long time.
In response to the question of whether a concrete step will be taken there, Karagözoğlu said, "Progress is being made toward a concrete step for the establishment of a joint infrastructure company. There is ongoing work for the establishment of a joint infrastructure company. Coming to its rationale, there is a passive side to the infrastructure and an active side, which consists of the devices that provide the main communication. On the passive side, there is pipe laying and establishing the area through which the line will pass. Separating these from each other and having a joint infrastructure company provide this infrastructure on one side, and all of our operators offer this infrastructure—actually, the whole goal is this. There is work on that point. Another supporting effort is the universal service we are conducting. Universal service has been transferred from our Ministry to BTK. With this transfer, we will make every effort to truly reach everywhere, to everyone who conveys their internet demand to us."
President Karagözoğlu: Platforms Must Give Commitments Regarding Their Services
Karagözoğlu also made evaluations regarding the service outage experienced by social media giants worldwide a few days ago. Emphasizing that users there are only service users, Karagözoğlu drew attention to the fact that the service provider has no commitments.
Karagözoğlu continued, "Because we are currently receiving this service without paying any fee; actually, perhaps the root of the matter is here. We don't pay a fee. So what is the real fee? The real fee is planned by those platforms to direct us to advertisements based on who we communicate with and socialize with, channeling us to the fields we are interested in. An international company collapsed, and it took hours to get back up. The relevant company has data centers in multiple countries. When planning the future of our business, what do we need to plan? We need to consider the same thing in the systems we build in our own country so that sustainability is always the main principle. And we have this motto: I truly believe that whoever pays me should receive service as if they are paying for it. The relevant platforms must give commitments regarding the service. Even if people build their trade on it by relying on the communication system, if someone cannot communicate for seven hours, they will definitely suffer serious damage. Therefore, our domestic systems must necessarily be alternatives, and we always support these domestic systems. We support their development."
President Karagözoğlu: We Have Domestic Socialization Platforms, We Need to Advance Them Further
In this context, drawing attention to the importance of domestic applications like BİP and Yaay, Karagözoğlu emphasized that these platforms need to advance further. Stating that demand is also important for a platform to advance, Karagözoğlu said, "We have domestic socialization platforms; we need to advance them further. If we do not create demand, if we do not generate the demand within ourselves for our own systems to compete with those systems, then our chance of competing with them gradually decreases. Let's also do some self-criticism. Our self-criticism is this: on one side, for example, I am someone who constantly updates applications. Almost every day, when I open my phone, I check which application has an update and tap it. Looking at other applications, perhaps an update comes once or twice a week, and we don't even know the content of the update, which is another issue, but there is always an update. As a customer, I say that this application is being renewed according to my needs, a need of mine is being met. When we cannot achieve this on the other side with our own products, we unfortunately lose the customer."
Also responding to the question of whether demand for domestic applications has increased with these problems, Karagözoğlu concluded his speech by saying, "When WhatsApp added clauses to its contract and demanded them in a 'blanket consent' manner as per KVKK terminology, it received serious backlash from users. It is imposing 'Accept my rule.' No one has the right to make such an imposition. I should share the information I want and not share what I don't want. The decision to share or not share my information should be mine. During that period, we gained significant interest in domestic applications. Until May, our citizens showed serious interest and preferred domestic applications. Looking at the recent period, for example, in the case of BİP, there are good developments; it listens to the citizens. There are criticisms like it needs to be simplified a bit more, and that simplification may come, it can be separated. The relevant colleagues will evaluate that too."