Turkey's first 5G signals were transmitted at the BTK Market Surveillance Laboratory in the 5G Valley Open Test Site.
Under the leadership of BTK, an event was organized in collaboration with Bilkent, Hacettepe, METU, and Turkish Telekom, Turkcell, Vodafone as part of the 5G Valley Open Test Site studies. The event held at the Market Surveillance Laboratory was attended by Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu, President of the Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK), Prof. Dr. Haluk Özen, Rector of Hacettepe University, Yusuf Kıraç, Deputy General Manager of Türk Telekom, Gediz Sezgin, Deputy General Manager of Turkcell, Hasan Süel, Vice President of the Executive Board of Vodafone Turkey, and sector representatives.
In his speech at the opening of the program, BTK President Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu said, “With 5G Valley, the aim is to create an environment where universities, research centers, companies, and entrepreneurial technology firms can conduct tests related to 5G and Beyond in the region covering Hacettepe University Beytepe Campus in Ankara, Bilkent and METU campuses, and the BTK Central Building. In this context, on July 24, 2018, memorandums of understanding for the establishment of test network infrastructures were signed between the 5G Valley Protocol Parties and companies contributing to the test infrastructure. We will announce the procedures for utilizing the test infrastructures in the Valley very soon. 5G Valley will be open to everyone in Turkey who says 'I am here' in the field of technology. You will be able to advance the issue you want to research or the idea you want to develop by utilizing the opportunities of 5G Valley. Academicians, researchers, PhD students, and new techno startups (start-ups) like everyone producing technology in 5G will be able to benefit from this infrastructure where R&D, product development, and testing of 5G and Beyond technologies will be conducted.”
President Karagözoğlu: 5G VATS Will Offer New R&D Opportunities to the Electronic Communications Sector
Emphasizing that the 5G Valley Open Test Site will provide new R&D opportunities for all stakeholders in the electronic communications sector, Karagözoğlu stated, “It will enable effective research and projects in the context of public-university-operator-industry collaborations, create high value-added job opportunities in the ecosystem, and contribute to employment. In addition, the 5G Valley parties will launch the 5G and Beyond Joint Graduate Support Program in the upcoming academic year to contribute to the training of qualified human resources in our country on 5G and Beyond topics. We aim to implement this beautiful and important application for our country in cooperation with our valuable universities in Istanbul in the future. 5G differs from previous generations by focusing on vertical sectors rather than end-users. In 5G Valley and the 5G and Beyond Joint Graduate Program, we will deal not only with the physical and core network parts of 5G communication technology but also with services and applications that produce solutions for vertical sectors. Therefore, 5G Valley will be a creativity oasis where technologies that will carry Turkey to the future and establish a place in the world, from agriculture to health, from automotive to entertainment, will be developed. We have no doubt that our entrepreneurs who benefit from these opportunities will achieve important positions in the future Informatics 500 awards.”
Sharing the information that the use of information technologies and the number of internet users are increasing worldwide every day, Karagözoğlu stated in his speech, “Information technologies directly impact employment, Gross National Product, the emergence of new services and industrial areas, workforce transformation, and innovation. Our institution, with this awareness, attaches great importance to domestic and national production. According to a proverb, 'Unity is the beginning, maintaining unity is progress, working together is success.' Seeing that we have united recently makes us very pleased. Now, maintaining unity and working together is next. When we look at successful R&D and product development activities, we see that the customer is involved in the project from start to finish, and these activities are targeted and owned. Under the leadership of our institution, formations such as 5GTR Forum and HTK bring domestic companies together. There is a 5G study ongoing by HTK. Likewise, ULAK has developed a base station with domestic and national capabilities and continues its valuable work.”
President Karagözoğlu called on mobile operators: “Be highly active and committed to projects in domestic production activities. Domestic production means you gain strength, our country gains strength. The support you give to 5GTR Forum, ULAK, and HTK is actually an investment in your future,” and added: “For technology companies, it is important to develop new products or processes systematically in accordance with Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) from the idea stage to market launch. Market Readiness Levels (MRL) will similarly increase the probability of commercial success, and it is additionally important for our companies to develop products in line with such business models and methodologies. We all have great responsibilities to prepare a bright future.”
Deputy Minister Sayan: We Will Spread 5G Awareness and Advancement Everywhere
Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, touched upon the importance of the conducted studies in his speech. Pointing out that the 5G Open Test Site Valley will sign very important works, Sayan said, “The Information Technologies and Communication Authority Hacettepe Campus and the area we are in is the first stop for mobile phones coming to Turkey. They complete their electromagnetic tests here before entering domestic and foreign markets and before our satellites are launched. With 5G, we have placed the center of the research triangle we have formed here. Thanks to the very valuable contributions of BTK, Hacettepe, METU, and Bilkent Universities, and our three operators, we have experienced all their 5G-related experiences. Universities, operators, domestic and foreign operators, foreign manufacturers brought their own test equipment. Our domestic manufacturers, especially ULAK, HTK Cluster, Ostim, all came here. Users, university students, public sector all came together, and our duty in this case was to make the halva. Today, we are harvesting the first fruits of this here. They all came together and rolled up their sleeves to make Turkey one of the first countries to pass to 5G with domestic and national capabilities.”
Noting that they announced to the public today that these studies have begun, Sayan said, “How will this structure work? At the beginning of this year, for this structure, university-industry collaboration, resource finding, academic studies at universities started in PhD programs in a way that will benefit industry, designing the products we have with industry contributions on needed topics, our valuable universities started working in this valley. We are currently in an environment where we are experiencing 5G live. We will spread this awareness and advancement everywhere. Türk Telekom, especially with the technologies produced by Argela, in the coming period, not only physical separation but virtually dividing the network into certain parts, for example, being able to separate a large part of the network in disaster and emergency situations, we will use the technology we use with 100% domestic and national capabilities.”
Sayan concluded his speech with the following words: “All representatives of HTK are here. The meaning of HTK for us is an address where everyone who says 'I am here' can come and find a place, and when you look, under the sector cluster, they can find what they are looking for without going to different addresses. All our companies are together in this cluster. When we impose the domestic and national obligation on our operators, these companies contribute from start to finish together.”
Following the protocol speeches, the opening of the Information Technologies and Communication Authority Market Surveillance Laboratory, where the studies will be conducted, was carried out.