Access Providers Association (ESB) the II. National Access Providers Symposium was completed.

The symposium, which could not be held the previous year due to the pandemic, is of great importance as an event that brings together the companies operating in the access sector in Turkey and the managers of the Information Technologies and Communications Authority.,

In addition to the sector representatives from various regions of our country, the Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Mr. Dr. Ömer Fatih SAYAN, Chairman of the Information Technologies and Communications Authority, Mr. Ömer Abdullah KARAGÖZOĞLU, members of the Board of Access Providers Association, and representatives of institutions attended the symposium.

The opening speech of the symposium was made by the Secretary-General of the Access Providers Union, Mr. Ömer Faruk SORGUN. Talking about the activities of the ESB, SORGUN stated that they attach great importance to this symposium as they saw that the contribution of the symposium to the sector was reflected on the field in a very short time. Stating that the feedbacks from both the representatives of institutions representing the state and companies are very positive, SORGUN said, “We already act as a bridge between these two structures in a sense.” said. Indicating that one of their goals is to optimize and develop the existing system, SORGUN said, “In fact, we are here in the background, in order to provide the best possible service to the citizens using communication services, with this symposium, we are removing bureaucratic obstacles and speeding up the solution of problems, and this returns to our citizens as a fast service.”  SORGUN also conveyed the expectations of the representatives of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and the Information Technologies and Communication Authority with presentations in the program in detail, and said that the interactive participation of their companies in a sense resembles a brainstorming. For these reasons, SORGUN stated that the improvement and progress in communication services gained momentum thanks to the symposium, and stated that this symposium will be held regularly due to its contributions to the sector.

Following Mr. SORGUN, Mr. Mehmet ÇERİKÇİ, the Chairman of the Board of the Access Providers Union addressed the participants. In his speech, ÇERİKÇİ said, “Just like you, I witnessed the satisfactory contributions of the first symposium we organized to our work throughout the working process. Hopefully, I would like to say that I am confident that the second program that we have started today will also accelerate us in the coming period with its positive contributions both for our personal and teamwork. As you all know, both our country and the world are going through very difficult days. In this pandemic process we are in, we are both psychologically and socially overwhelmed. We see the reflections of this in different areas of our lives. Despite all these difficulties, during the working period in this pandemic process we are in, no work has been carried out without interruption and each of our friends has successfully managed this process with their sense of duty and hard work. Communication infrastructures, which are vital for our country, were able to provide service without any interruptions or slowdowns, and communication services were able to carry themselves to a higher point despite being under too much risk and limited working opportunities during the closure processes,” in his remarks.

Emphasizing the importance of the communication services provided at the end of his speech, ÇERİKÇİ said, “It is known by everyone that the public and private sector held their work and meetings via internet technologies as a result of the closures and measures. In addition, the rapid growth of e-commerce as a result of these closures and measures, as well as the increase in the use of platforms such as social media, actually put a great pressure on the infrastructure and communication services we offer. However, as a result of the correct guidance of the Information Technologies and Communication Authority since its establishment, and the correct work and investments of the companies serving in the sector, we are proud of being able to serve our country, especially the business world and the public, in the best way, without the slightest disruption since the first day of the pandemic. Considering that this situation, which has affected the whole world, has now become a business model, it is obvious that these needs will increase day by day. For this reason, all public and private sectors must be ready in terms of all kinds of infrastructure and trained manpower to meet the increasing needs and demands. As the stakeholders of the sector, we should support each other with stronger communication and sharing and realize more effective process management. I think that our symposium will contribute to this goal.”

Another name, addressing the participants and sector representatives at the opening of the symposium, was the President of the Information Technologies and Communications Authority, Mr. Ömer Abdullah KARAGÖZOĞLU. In his speech, KARAGÖZOĞLU, presenting a general panorama of Turkey’s communication and infrastructure network, mentioned that IPv6 will be inevitable in Turkey’s future and infrastructure studies. Saying that most of us cannot even imagine what our lives would be like without the Internet, KARAGÖZOĞLU said, “If we consider that neither social media platforms nor smartphones were a part of our lives until 20 years ago, it may be difficult to predict what the next 20 years will bring. Artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud, big data, 5G and others… All these technologies are deep and valuable technologies that can be talked about for hours. At the same time, they are technologies that are so interconnected and inseparable from each other. The Internet has become the backbone of critical services and infrastructure, social networks and the global economy as a whole.” 

In the continuation of his speech, KARAGÖZOĞLU stated that, in addition to strengthening competition and increasing the welfare of the consumers, one of the most important issues for our country is to ensure the production of systems and devices used in the networks with domestic and national means, and “Unfortunately, a significant part of the network investments are currently provided from abroad. If we want to achieve our goals, we must intervene and say stop this situation. Together, we have to build a technology production-based economy by cooperating and collaborating. Only in this way will it be possible for us to reach our goal of being among the top 10 economies of the world in 2023. In order to achieve this goal, we need to reach a position that exports high value-added products by producing technology. The most important added value created by the information and communication sector is the contribution of high-speed communication infrastructures with high technology to our country’s competitiveness and innovation power and the multiplier effect it brings to economic growth,” he added.

In the last part of his speech, KARAGÖZOĞLU touched upon the security issue, which moves in parallel with the increasing information traffic and the expanding access network with the developing communication tools and environments, and drew attention to the importance of the ESB at this point and said, “In this context, Access Providers and Internet Service Providers are undoubtedly one of the most important parts of our electronic communication sector. is one. As it is known, with the Access Providers Association (ESB), which was established in 2014 to ensure the implementation of the decisions to block access outside the scope of Article 8 of the Law No. 5651, the decisions of the courts and institutions regarding the blocking of access given by the courts and institutions regarding the illegal broadcasts made via the Internet, are communicated to the access providers quickly and effectively. We have carried out fruitful and beneficial efforts to ensure that content and hosting providers are informed of the decision to block access in accordance with the coordination task arising from the legislation, and I believe that this cooperation will continue to strengthen in the future.” At the end of his speech, KARAGÖZOĞLU thanked the Access Providers Association, who organized the symposium, and wished the program to may it bode well for the future.

In the last part of the program, Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Mr. Dr. Ömer Fatih SAYAN met with access providers and industry representatives. The last part of the symposium, which was in the form of mutual questions and answers, lasted about three hours. In this episode, SAYAN talked to sector representatives one-on-one, listening to the expectations of the representatives, and expressed that they, as a ministry, also have expectations from the representatives. The last part of the symposium came to the fore as it was a meeting where the highest units of the state and sector representatives came together by removing bureaucratic obstacles and problems were identified quickly. The symposium was concluded with a large family photo with the participation of all stakeholders participating in the program.