The commissioning of ULAK Base Stations on World Telecommunication and Information Society Day was held in Kars. BTK President Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, who attended the program, spoke about the importance of artificial intelligence and Turkey's first domestic and national base station.
The Minister of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communication and the President of the Information Technologies and Communication Authority, Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, met with the people of Kars at the event organized for the commissioning of “ULAK,” Turkey's first domestic and national base station, and for World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.
Reminding that May 17th is celebrated as World Telecommunication and Information Society Day by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), of which Turkey is a founding member, Sayan stated, “In this event, which has become traditional, various organizations are held on the main theme determined by the ITU. The concept of Artificial Intelligence, whose effects are beginning to be seen in every area of life, has become a quite popular topic in recent days. As a reflection of this, the ITU has determined ‘Enabling positive use of Artificial Intelligence for everything’ as the theme of 2018. Artificial intelligence enables significant developments in many areas such as big data, machine learning, deep learning, computing power, storage capacity, and cloud services,” he said.
Stating that in the digitalizing world, everything connected to the internet cloud has turned into data production, Sayan said, “And this amount of data is increasing exponentially every day. Today, data has become extremely important. It is seen as a financial commodity like gold or oil, and we can even use the concept of data as the oil of our time. At this point, the question ‘What makes data so important?’ comes to mind. The massive piles of data do not mean much on their own. What makes data important is the information it contains. Extracting this information from meaningless piles of data is not as easy as it seems. At this point, it is necessary to use artificial intelligence-supported analysis systems to dig through the data mountains like a miner and reach information as valuable as diamonds,” he said.
Emphasizing that artificial intelligence facilitates the solution of many problems with its computing and learning power, Sayan said, “Artificial intelligence emerges as a key technology in service areas such as communication, health, education, finance, agriculture, transportation, and similar fields, aimed at improving people's quality of life. We believe that artificial intelligence will have groundbreaking effects in the electronic communications sector, for which we are responsible for regulation and supervision, in terms of service provision. Today, artificial intelligence is utilized in many areas such as finance, meteorology, defense industry, military services, health, insurance companies, computer games, banking and customer recognition systems, aviation, transportation, and more,” he stated.
Artificial Intelligence is Now a Main Branch of Science
Expressing that products that will provide serious contributions to development and economy are being developed as a country, Sayan said, “We continue to develop products with high scientific and economic value in many areas from scientific studies to transportation, from medicine to military technologies. The use of artificial intelligence in daily life in so many different sectors and the acceleration of artificial intelligence studies with the concerns and motivations of the economic order have led us to say that artificial intelligence has now become a main branch of science. In addition, we have developed our smart threat detection systems entirely with our institution's human resources and our own software language regarding the security of our country's internet infrastructure and traffic. And by providing coordination with public institutions and private individuals with machine learning algorithms in the detection and neutralization of these threats, we serve our country's digital defense,” he said.
ULAK is a Huge Gain for Our Country
Speaking also about the ULAK 4.5G Base Station, the concrete output of the ULAK Project, starting to provide commercial service, Sayan made the following statements: “As it is known, the ULAK project was successfully completed by our three highly capable companies in the technology field, Aselsan, Netaş, and Argela consortium. Subsequently, ULAK AŞ was established for the commercial branding and opening to the outside world of the developed base station. Today, as a country, we have a company capable of producing our domestic and national base station at high standards. I think this is a huge gain for our country. With the ULAK project, which has great importance in reducing our country's external dependency on mobile communication network equipment and thus our current account deficit, the design and production of a 4.5G base station has been realized for the first time entirely with domestic and national resources. When we started this project, perhaps many people did not believe we could succeed. However, at the point we have reached today, we have obtained a product at least as capable as its competitors. The ULAK 4.5G base station has reached the level that can be used in the 4.5G commercial networks currently operated by our operators.”
Reminding that the ULAK 4.5G base station has already started actively serving subscribers in approximately 25 sites determined within the scope of the Universal Service Project coordinated by the Ministry, President Sayan said, “According to the information we received from ULAK AŞ, this number is expected to reach approximately 1000 sites by the end of the year. We know that product deliveries to our operators' commercial networks will start in August and that 625 stations contracted by the end of 2018 will be delivered to the operators.
If We Want, We Can Achieve Anything
These developments are proof that as a country, we can achieve anything if we want. We need to crown this success we have achieved in base station production by producing other needed products with domestic and national resources. This success we have achieved belongs to the people of our country. This success shows us that there is no product we cannot produce if we want. As long as we believe, focus, and continue our efforts tirelessly towards that goal,” he said.
Emphasizing that BTK closely follows the development of the ULAK 4.5G base station, President Sayan said, “Our operators regularly report to us the stages reached in the tests they conduct. We also try to make our contribution at the necessary points by getting involved in the process. As an institution, we have been supporters of this project from the beginning and we will continue to support the widespread use of the product that emerged at the end of the project not only in our country but also in the countries with which we have cooperation agreements. As an institution, we attach great importance to the production of high value-added products such as hardware and software needed in the electronic communications sector with domestic and national resources. As an indicator of this, we have been working intensively in coordination with our public and private sector representatives for a while,” he stated.
Stating that establishing cooperation between public, civil society organizations, universities, and industrial organizations is vital in developing domestic and national production, Sayan said, “As an institution, we approach the issue with a national duty awareness and aim to bring all parties together to form a common mind. We aim to contribute to our country's exports and employment by producing hardware and software products, most of which are currently imported, with our own resources through domestic production. We know that realizing our country's 2023, 2053, 2071 goals depends on producing high-tech, high value-added products. The period we are in shows us once again how important domestic and national production is in every field. As a nation, we are fighting against fierce enemies on every front. Our duty in this struggle is to produce, produce, produce!” With these words, he drew attention to the importance they attach to domestic and national production.
5G is Coming at a Running Pace
“With 5G technology coming almost at a running pace, we are on the threshold of a great transformation in every area from communication to industrial production, from education to health, from transportation to media. Now, we must not miss the train,” Sayan emphasized their determination on this issue, saying that with the ULAK 4.5G base station, we have caught the train from one end, and we need to secure our place on the train with the projects we will do for 5G. To achieve this goal, we must all work together very hard. Our country must make the success it has achieved in the economy in recent years sustainable with the high-tech products we will produce. Increasing domestic and national production in our country is at the forefront of the issues we value.
The way to become a strong country is to trust our country's resources and our sweat as national and domestic. I think every kind of work done for domestic and national production within our country deserves great respect and support,” he said.
Minister Arslan: We Increased the Localization Rate to 43 Percent
Minister Arslan, who spoke at the opening, also expressed that the use of products produced with domestic and national resources is made mandatory in the Universal Service projects carried out by the Ministry. Arslan said, "For the first phase of the ULAK Project, we had foreseen a localization rate of 10 percent for 1,799 settlements, we increased it to 43 percent. For the second phase, for 1,472 settlements, we had foreseen 30 percent, it reached 54 percent. Thus, as a ministry, we support the formation of the national communications industry. These efforts have started to bear fruit," he said.
Drawing attention to the fact that ULAK, produced as a result of the devoted work of Turkish engineers, is the first domestic and national 4.5G base station, Arslan stated that ULAK is a giant step taken in an area like communication that closely concerns national security and requires national production.