The 12th Transportation and Communication Council, which brought together the communication and transportation sectors, closed its doors. On the last day, Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu, President of the Information Technologies and Communication Authority, spoke at the panel titled "The Future of Transportation in the Digital Age" about the sector and the works carried out by his Institution.
The 12th Transportation and Communication Council, where topics related to the future of communication were also discussed on its last day, was successfully completed. BTK President Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu, who participated in the program, stated: "The transportation sector plays a key role in the continuity of our commercial and social lives. The ability to transport all kinds of objects and people safely and efficiently between distances constitutes a fundamental for economic life in modern societies. Today, it is not possible to sustain economic growth without effectively increasing transportation capacity. Scientific studies on the impact of transportation on economic development show that investments in transportation infrastructure reduce transportation costs, encourage innovation, and generally improve quality of life. Transportation, with bus, railway, highway, air, and sea services, also provides direct contributions to economic activity and employment. With digitalization, change in the transportation sector becomes inevitable. Signals of this change are evident in public sector investments in smart streets and digital railways, and in automotive manufacturers' focus on producing next-generation vehicles and smart transportation services."
President Karagözoğlu: The Future of Transportation Lies in Intelligent Transportation Systems
Drawing attention to the increasing world population, Karagözoğlu said, "The growth of the population living in cities worldwide is occurring faster than the capacity increases in existing highways, railways, and other transportation channels. This pressure on transportation infrastructure requires investments exceeding approximately 1 trillion dollars annually. So, how can we cope with these challenges? This question is being asked everywhere in the world. The answer lies in information and communication technologies. Advances in the information and communication sector provide great opportunities for creating a more efficient and effective transportation infrastructure. In summary, we can say that the future of transportation lies in intelligent transportation systems created through the widespread use of information and communication technologies."
Expressing that intelligent transportation systems increase efficiency and provide significant savings, Karagözoğlu stated, "Intelligent transportation systems enable us to use our most valuable treasure, time, more effectively. The goal in intelligent transportation systems is interconnectivity of vehicles, smart city infrastructure, transportation infrastructure, roads, bridges, traffic signs and signals, standardization, and interoperability of systems. Within the scope of smart city applications, the importance and integration of 5G technologies in the transportation sector are crucial. We need more speed, more capacity, and more efficient structures in technological infrastructure. Compared to 4G technology, 5G technology provides up to 100 times data transmission speed and up to 100 times the number of connected devices."
President Karagözoğlu: We Are Moving with the Vision of Creating Domestic and National Transportation
Also mentioning the significant advantages of 5G against latency periods, Karagözoğlu said, "While 5G technologies significantly increase quality of life, public safety, and energy efficiency, they have features that protect valuable resources. In particular, it is foreseen that 5G will provide significant cost savings in the transportation sector. With intelligent transportation systems, it is projected that time spent in traffic can decrease by 29%, average stopping time in traffic by 56%, and emergency response speed can increase by 50%."
Emphasizing that they are moving with the vision of creating a sustainable smart transportation network in the country that is integrated into all transportation modes, uses current technologies, and benefits from domestic and national resources, Karagözoğlu said, "Like every country, we are also conducting studies to provide 5G and beyond technologies to our people. As the Information Technologies and Communication Authority, we continue our 5G activities in coordination with the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, along the axis of our President's 'National Technology Move'. We aim to bring 5G technologies into our country's service with our domestic and national products," highlighting domestic and national production.
Touching on the subject of eSIM, Karagözoğlu said, "Another topic we are proud to have developed with domestic and national capabilities is eSIM. eSIM offers a technology that can be loaded and managed remotely on a secure chip. Operator profile information can be loaded and managed remotely via software without the need to insert a physical SIM card into devices. As a result of the decisions we have made for the establishment of systems supporting remotely programmable SIM technologies and their use in devices, the eSIM infrastructure has been developed 100% with domestic and national capabilities in accordance with international standards. Thus, we have ranked among the first countries that develop their own software required for eSIM."
Underlining that investments in both fixed and mobile communication areas in the country continue without slowing down, Karagözoğlu shared, "Comparing the fiber infrastructure length with 2013, when the previous Council was held, the fiber length was approximately 227 thousand kilometers at that time, while it has reached 445 thousand kilometers as of the first half of 2021. This development in our fiber infrastructure has also made significant contributions to the increase in internet speeds. In 2010, 94% of fixed broadband subscribers were receiving internet service below 8 Mbit/sn, while as of mid-2021, approximately 56% of subscribers receive 10-24 Mbit/sn, and 31% receive 24-100 Mbit/sn internet service. The target for 2023 is for everyone to reach 100 Mbit/sn internet speed. Our Ministry, BTK, and all stakeholders are continuing our efforts towards this goal."
President Karagözoğlu: We Are Moving with the Zero Trust Approach in Cybersecurity
President Karagözoğlu also mentioned the importance of cybersecurity. Stating, "We are moving with the zero trust approach accepted in the cybersecurity world," Karagözoğlu said, "Our country has made significant progress in this regard with the works of our Ministry and Institution. With the National Cyber Incident Response Center (USOM) under our Institution, we continue our efforts to neutralize cyber threats against our country and to warn institutions, companies, and our citizens in advance against possible attacks. These efforts are also reciprocated internationally. According to the 'Global Cybersecurity Index' data used by the International Telecommunication Union to measure countries' cybersecurity maturity, our country has risen from 11th to 6th place in Europe and from 20th to 11th place worldwide in 2020. In line with the goal of sustaining our success, we continue our works with our stakeholders without slowing down," listing the achievements in this field.