Türk Telekom’s ‘integration’ offers a new outlook for next-gen technologies

Ahmet Can - ISTANBUL

The reconstruction process inside Turkey’s Türk Telekom, dubbed the “integration,” has been completed much quicker than its competitors in the world, CEO Rami Arslan has said, adding the company will continue to be a pioneer in communication technologies in the country with its strong infrastructure in all fields.

“The integration began in 2014 and its mainframe is composed of three different stages. First, we integrated the support functions in May [2014]. All functions that support our market access strategy operate centrally.

Related departments in Avea, TTNET and Türk Telekom were integrated and we got a chance to create synergy. We began to see the advantages of the integration in the first stage. I think we are in a prominent place in the other stages. We completed the second stage in September [2014]. Integration does not happen in a short time,” said Arslan, speaking to daily Hürriyet with the company’s two other top executives, Erkan Akdemir and Mehmet Ali Akarca. “We also set up personal, corporate and mass departments,” he added.

Following the integration, Arslan said the company would carry out mobile and fixed line collectively, pointing to Türk Telekom’s readiness for next generation technologies thanks to its fiber internet infrastructure capacity.

“We are steadily moving on and we do not change our route. Mobile is growing and we think that it would be weak without the fixed-line. What do I mean by weak? We are now using 3G. But it would be impossible to use 3G services in Turkey without Türk Telekom’s infrastructure. Therefore, we think that mobile would exist along with the fixed-line,” said Arslan, adding Turkey was way ahead of European countries with its high speed fiber internet thanks to huge investments across the country.

In addition, Akdemir, the head of the consumer business unit, said the unique infrastructure of the company enabled the use of current technologies while also paving the way for future technologies.

“Right now, mobile is seen as the most popular. Every new generation increases the dependence on the fixed line. If the infrastructure in the fixed line had not been common, we could not have talked about more than 3G today. When we say we are ready for 4G and 5G, this infrastructure has a great benefit. So, the fixed line and the mobile are always seen as an opponent but they actually complement each other. Mobile usage is quickly increasing while the fixed line usage is also increasing. Right now, we are talking about an average 50 GB usage. The consumers are so demanding,” said Akdemir. Akarca, the head of the corporate business unit, stressed Turkey has more fiber internet line compared to Europe.

“Turkey now has more fiber line than Europe. The fiber infrastructure is at a premium. The fiber infrastructure is not insufficient in Turkey. Rather, it has a capacity to supply the next two or three generations with quality to support the Turkish economy,” he said.

On the Aug. 26 tender bid for 4G technology in the country, Arslan highlighted its contribution to the Turkish economy.

“Whatever we call it, the important thing is the next generation technology’s contribution to the Turkish economy. For today, we have made our infrastructure investments. A new page is being opened and a new game is beginning. We have reached a structure with integration which could meet all the needs of our customers by foreseeing these days. Türk Telekom has been a company that always breaks grounds. In 4G it will be the same. Likewise Türk Telekom has been the first company to start 5G research and development,” he said.