In his statement, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu stated that important studies are being carried out by the Ministry and the Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK) to start 5G technology to take its place in the country’s communication networks, and that they continue to work in close cooperation with operators and related technology companies.
Noting that the use of domestic products, as well as the nationalization of critical components for 5G and beyond, are their main priorities, Uraloğlu said, “In this context, our ULAK project, which is a 4.5G base station development project, constitutes an important step within the scope of our country’s high-tech product development studies. A lot of work has been done specifically for the ULAK project and the necessary support has been given and continues to be given by our Ministry and BTK from the beginning to this project.Our operators have also contributed significantly to the development process of the ULAK project.At this point, our 4.5G ULAK base stations are actively operating in approximately 2,447 fields. used.” he said.
Uraloğlu emphasized that, under the coordination of the Ministry and BTK, the studies carried out to include the engineering power and manual labor of the country in almost all software and hardware components of the 5G network were supported by relevant institutions such as TÜBİTAK.
Industrial areas will be covered by 5G
Underlining that the final evaluations of the project, which was initiated by the Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communication Research Center Presidency to support companies aiming to develop 5G technologies, were made, Uraloğlu said:
“We aim to complete the project in a short time and to share the 5G transition plan with the public in 2024. Our priority in the 5G roadmap will be the use of domestic and national products. Therefore, we continue our efforts to ensure that the critical network elements of our 5G infrastructure are ‘national communication products’ defined by the BTK. We will ensure that the frequencies that can be used in 5G are made available for use as our industry and citizens need it. In other words, we do not plan to open all of the existing frequencies to the sector in the first place, but to give the frequency, which is a public resource, at the right time and in a way that meets the need. Unlike the population-based coverage obligation in 3G and 4,5G, we have plans to make it mandatory to cover industrial areas to a certain extent.As the installation and planning of base stations in the electronic communication sector requires a special expertise, the needs of industrial areas in 5G will be met by our mobile operators. “
5G technologies are being tested by mobile operators
According to the information received by the AA correspondent from the Ministry, 5G technologies are being tested especially by mobile operators in Turkey. transferred as
Currently, a mobile operator and a white goods manufacturer in the country are working on a project on factory automation over the existing 4.5G network. Within the scope of the project, it is aimed to carry out activities such as instantaneous monitoring of the moving objects in the factory with the camera, counting, determining the thickness of the sheet metal used in production, whether there are scratches on the sheets, and fault detection, starting with 4.5G today and performing over 5G in the future.
Within the scope of another project, which is an international project and supported by European Union funds, autonomous driving trials are carried out on trucks and transport vehicles that will pass from Greece to Turkey or from Turkey to Greece.
Developing a domestic production ecosystem
In order to develop AG-D studies in the electronic communication sector, to increase the market shares of SMEs, to support the domestic production ecosystem and to encourage the use of domestic products, some obligations were imposed on the operators by the BTK.
The domestic production rate for the products used in the 4.5G network infrastructures of mobile operators in the sector was approximately 33 percent in 2021, while the share of domestic production in the service and software sub-sectors of the information technology sector reached 75 percent. Efforts to increase these rates are ongoing.
On the other hand, when we look at the size of the domestic market, it is estimated that approximately 2 billion liras of hardware and software investments are made annually by the operators within the scope of 4.5G authorization, and this figure will increase even more with 5G.
It is planned to implement regulations for the use of certain products in 5G networks from products developed in accordance with the definition of national communication product.
