Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said Saturday that preparations for 6G technology have commenced in addition to advancements in 5G-related framework, emphasizing the importance of digital literacy and domestic innovation.
He also reiterated the aim to launch Türkiye's first local and national communication satellite, Türksat 6A, into space this year.
Speaking at the introductory meeting for Terminal Istanbul project, Uraloğlu emphasized that countries that do not produce information and cannot turn the information they produce into a product cannot develop, and drew attention to the necessity of being a digital society and adapting to the digital transformation process.
"Digital society does not only mean having internet access, but also having digitally skilled individuals and businesses. I would like to point out that digital literacy is extremely important at this point," he said.
Furthermore, he noted that the difficulties experienced during the COVID-19 process showed how important digitalization is and mentioned that new concepts such as remote education and working from home have entered human life.
"Thanks to the power of our country's digital infrastructure, we were able to easily leave the epidemic process behind. However, the process also revealed that we need to work harder to ensure that everyone can access the digital world equally and safely. In this context, we have taken strategic steps such as expanding our country's broadband infrastructure and strengthening the fiber infrastructure," said Uraloğlu.
He also said a total of 94.3 million broadband internet subscribers have been reached, including approximately 19.5 million fixed subscribers and 74.8 million mobile subscribers.
"We planned to extend our fiber infrastructure length to 600,000 kilometers by the end of this year. We aim to increase this to over 850,000 kilometers by 2028," he said.
Uraloğlu also emphasized the importance they attach to local, national, and original production as the ministry. He stated that they are making progress in the local and national framework for 5G-related work and have started preparations for 6G technology.
"We are developing a 5G core network, 5G base station and 5G-specific management, service and software products, which are critical for 5G infrastructures. We are involved in many innovative projects such as smart factory applications, private industrial mobile networks, 5G-supported online remote surgery," he explained.
"Another important step we will take this year in terms of locality and nationality is: It is Türksat 6A," he noted.
"We aim to send our country's first domestic and national communication satellite into space in June, and our preparations continue," he added.
Regarding entrepreneurship, Uraloğlu stated that Türkiye ranks 10th among European countries with $1.6 billion in the entrepreneurship ecosystem. He emphasized that being close to the Western world and having a young population makes it not difficult for Türkiye to become the largest production and investment center in the region.
Finally, Uraloğlu said that with the Terminal Istanbul project, Atatürk Airport, which has served as Türkiye's gateway to the world for many years would now become a hub for thousands of startups.
"Terminal Istanbul will serve all of Istanbul with its unique advantages such as its physical conditions, central location, all kinds of transportation convenience including air transportation, and being right next to Türkiye largest public garden. It will develop science culture, technology awareness and competence in our society," he said.
Highlighting the organization of Türkiye's largest technology and aerospace event Teknofest in previous years at the airport, Uraloğlu concluded by saying the location would also serve as the country's flagship in digital transformation and technology development, as Türkiye's largest technopark.