Fiber Infrastructure Statement from Türk Telekom CEO

There is a fiber internet debate in Turkey that has been going on for years. So much so that companies such as Turkcell and Vodafone, own fiber infrastructures they want to establish. Thus, there would be no need to pay rent for Türk Telekom’s fiber infrastructure. Because the rental prices were high and according to the companies, the cost was quadrupling. In fact, 7 years ago, Turkcell, Vodafone, Türksat and the Free Telecommunication Operators Association (TELKODER) came together and demanded the creation of a structure in which all companies would be partners. Thus, the excavations partner to doTogether with Türk Telekom, other companies would be able to create their own fiber infrastructures. However, Türk Telekom, which had no problems with the excavations, turned down this request. The company distributes its own infrastructure to other internet service providers. hire he wanted.

Türk Telekom CEO Ümit Önal, who made new statements on the subject, once again started the joint infrastructure business. did not approach. Stating that Turkey’s fiber infrastructure problem would be solved if 1.5 billion dollars were spent, Önal claimed that other companies had problems because they wanted to carry out duplication excavation work. At the end of the first quarter of 2022 372 thousand kilometers Ümit Önal, who said that a fiber infrastructure has been created, stated that they are ready for any kind of cooperation to expand this infrastructure.

Ümit Önal’s statement on the subject is as follows:

To say ‘4x more’ at today’s costs is a bit of a break from reality. The purpose of the declarations; ‘I want to dig myself, I want to re-invest. No matter how much actual digging I do, I’ll get away with thinking. Up to the streets of 92 percent of Turkey We got fiber. We increased the fiber network by 22.3 percent in 3 years and increased it to 372 thousand kilometers at the end of the first quarter of 2022. We have reached 9 million in coverage of (FTTH/B), which we can call home-to-building at international standards. Fiber is the main carrier of 5G. To meet the fiber requirement that will occur in the locations where 5G base stations will be installed. we are able to afford. According to the studies carried out by the GSMA, the usage rate of the fiber backbone in 5G will be around 42 percent in 2027. Currently, our rate of LTE base stations connected to fiber is currently around 43 percent.

The most common model that enables fiber investments to be used by all operators in the world, use of the incumbent operator’s infrastructure We see the shape. Here, too, there is a model whose legal framework has been drawn up by the BTK, which has been successfully implemented for almost 30 years. Looking for another solution doesn’t make sense. It is enough to stick to the infrastructure lease protocol signed by all operators. Who will put what on the table for the joint infrastructure company? Will they put forward the investments they have made under different names under other commercial enterprises, the infrastructures that they have to return the licenses to the state at the end of the day, as if they are their own infrastructure and say, ‘We also have this infrastructure, let’s be partners’? We end all investment concession to return to the state we are doing. We are ready to build infrastructure again and not throw Turkey’s money on the street. We have always said yes to a common infrastructure that aims to invest together in all new areas that have not yet completed the infrastructure. We are against saying to the state, ‘I have a job, let me be a partner to the common infrastructure company’…