Speaking at the Wireless Communication Summit, BTK President Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan stated that technology is advancing at a dizzying pace. Sayan emphasized that countries' levels of development are now measured by information technologies.
The Wireless Communication Summit 2018, jointly organized by the Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK) and Huawei to monitor global developments in 5G and beyond next-generation mobile communication technologies and to share information on studies conducted by various parties, was held at the BTK Central Building.
In his opening speech, BTK President Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan emphasized that the number of internet users worldwide is steadily increasing, stating, “This means that in the future, societies that produce information and utilize information technologies will succeed, and information technologies will be the most important criterion for countries' levels of development and even for their survival. Especially artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data analytics, robotics applications, and cybersecurity will shape the world of the future. In this context, the key factor for success in these areas will be producing in 5G and beyond technologies and transforming this field into benefits. Because 5G and beyond technologies have entered the literature as systems that provide the environment and opportunities for futuristic areas such as robotics and artificial intelligence, unlike the first four generations before them.”
Drawing attention to the fact that the contributions of information technologies to countries' development, economy, level of prosperity, and education systems should not be overlooked, Sayan said, “Today in Turkey, there are 71 million mobile users, and the number of users accessing social media via mobile has reached 42 million. When we look at global social media usage rates, we see that in one minute, more than 29 million messages are sent on WhatsApp, over 65,000 photos are uploaded to Instagram, more than 156 million emails are sent, and nearly 4 million searches are conducted on Google. End-user expectations are increasing every day. Technological developments are accelerating to meet these expectations. Mobile data traffic, which was 11 exabytes in 2017, is expected to reach 49 exabytes by 2021. The dizzying speed of technology brings opportunities with it; what falls to us is to identify and shape these opportunities in advance and work with all our might to be among the pioneering countries rather than those following technology from behind.”
MANY THINGS IN OUR LIVES WILL CHANGE WITH 5G AND BEYOND
Stating that applications such as autonomous vehicles, connected vehicles, vehicle-to-everything, remote health checks, 360-degree augmented reality, and virtual reality will be reshaped with 5G, President Sayan noted, “It is possible to observe that tender processes in 5G and beyond areas have begun in countries such as the US, UK, and South Korea. It is evident that the focus areas of forums and research centers worldwide converge on similar points. In this regard, even for companies where financial ratios and revenue information are trending downward, projections show that 5G and beyond are turning into opportunities and these figures are starting to turn upward.
With 5G and beyond, traditional business models in the telecom sector will change. The previous B2C model from operator to end-user will give way to a shift driven by vertical sectors, from operator to business world and then to end-user (B2B2C). We see the impact of all these in global developments such as eSIM standards, 5G automotive associations, or vehicle-to-everything consortia,” he said.
President Sayan also shared the following information about BTK's 5G-related studies: “In line with Turkey's goal to adopt 5G mobile communication technology with the highest possible levels of domestic and national content and to be among the earliest countries, another study we are conducting under BTK coordination to establish a 5G and Beyond ecosystem is the 5G Valley Open Test Field. We have signed the 5G Valley Open Test Field Cooperation Protocol with three of our universities—Bilkent, Hacettepe, and METU—and three mobile operators. In the 5G Valley, the goal is to establish an infrastructure where R&D, prototyping, and testing of 5G and Beyond technologies will be conducted through collaboration between BTK, universities, and operators. Additionally, we plan for everyone producing technology in 5G, such as academics, researchers, PhD students, and new tech startups, to benefit from this open test field.”
Reminding that the world economy is undergoing a major transformation today, Sayan concluded his speech by saying, “Companies producing innovative goods and services are overcoming borders and devastating rival products and companies. I think it is very valuable in terms of highlighting the technology and R&D agenda that initiatives encouraging domestic and national production in our country are almost equated with the fate of the nation.”
Huawei's Wireless Network Vice President Eric ZHAO, who also spoke at the event, covered the key highlights from Mobile World Congress 2018 held at the end of February, wireless technologies, and mobile operators' approaches specific to 5G.
In the presentations by Huawei, topics included 3GPP standardization efforts and the current status, predictions on 5G terminals, vertical sectors expected to stand out in 5G along with use cases and Huawei's approach, technologies such as Massive MIMO and Cloud AIR in 5G radio access networks, Huawei solutions and results from field tests, as well as global approaches to 5G frequencies.