Access Providers Association (ESB) General Assembly Meeting was held under the auspices of the Information Technologies and Communication Authority. Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan also attended the meeting.
Speaking at the meeting attended by ESB Board Chairman Mehmet Çerikçi and its members, Sayan made important statements about the current state of information and communication technologies.
Stating that the developments in information and communication technologies have significant impacts on our era, Sayan emphasized the important role of access providers in this regard. Sayan said, “Of the 460 operators authorized by the Information Technologies and Communication Authority, 330, which is 72% of the operators, are currently members of the Access Providers Association. This picture actually shows how important a role access providers and this association play.”
Sayan, who said that although the intensive use of information and communication technologies makes life easier, it also brings certain threats, stated, “Our Ministry, our affiliated institution BTK, and our stakeholders are working tirelessly day and night with great care to enable our nation to benefit from the advantages of the internet and protect them from its harms.” Noting that studies in the field of cybersecurity will continue without slowing down in the upcoming period, Sayan used the expressions, “In the Turkey Century, we will carry these gains much further in the coming period and turn our country into a deterrent ‘Cyber Power’ recognized in the region and the world.”
Deputy Minister Sayan: “From defense to security, from education to health, national technology production and use is a subject we attach great importance to in every field.”
Emphasizing the importance of the technologies produced in terms of countries' full independence and security being domestic and national, Sayan said, “The domestic and national production targeted by the ‘National Technology Move’ initiated under the leadership of our President is the sole savior that will protect us from uncertainties and vulnerabilities.”
Touching upon the rapid increase in the number of internet users and usage volume in our country as in the whole world, Deputy Minister Sayan stated, “Our internet subscriber count has exceeded 91 million, surpassing our population. The quality of the service our subscribers receive is also increasing rapidly. Our fiber subscriber count has increased by more than 20% to exceed 6 million. Now, nearly one-third of our fixed internet subscribers consist of fiber subscribers. This development is undoubtedly the result of the importance we attach to fiber infrastructure investments.”
Deputy Minister Sayan: “The Turkey Century is the determination of our nation to realize its century-old dreams and march towards much greater goals.”
Underlining that their targets are much greater within the scope of the Turkey Century vision, Sayan said, “Our goals include increasing the number of very high-speed internet subscribers to 10 million in the short term, enabling all subscribers to use mobile internet, and raising fixed internet penetration to around 30%. In the medium and long term, we will expand infrastructure investments more comprehensively and spread fiber access throughout the country,” thereby expressing that the upcoming process will be a “Period of Surge” for Turkey.
Emphasizing the extraordinary increase in data production and sharing with the rapid developments in information technologies, Sayan said, “As Access Providers, you who provide the main backbone of a huge data flow have very important tasks. It is of great importance that you, access providers with an extremely important infrastructure and human resources, not only focus on subscription services and improving access quality but also devote time to R&D efforts necessary for developing domestic and national technologies in this field,” concluding his speech.