the Information and Communication Technology in Turkey, an overview study

In general, the information technology sector is considered one of the most important industry sectors in Turkey and the telecom market is considered one of the most important pillars of the Turkish economy along with other markets such as the market of real estate in Turkey and tourism in Turkey and others

IT trade on software, hardware, and IT services & telecommunication services in Turkey reached $27.5 billion in the year 2018.  Information technologies’ share was $9.4 billion and communication technologies $18.1 billion. Employment in this sector raised to 139,000 and Turkey’s exports are estimated to be $1 billion.  With a large local market and big potential, trade in the ICT sector is going to grow faster than the world average.

Today there are 52 million social media users in Turkey.  In comparison with last year’s numbers, social media users increased by a smashing 2 million. The main social media apps used are YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.

The most invested areas in the ICT sector in Turkey are:

• 5G technology: smart phones & tablets

• Data centers and disaster recovery areas

• IT services

• Cloud computing

• M2M

The Turkish technology market keeps growing significantly as a technology-oriented population continues to buy electronics, products, and software.

Normally, large PC sales were confined to Istanbul, Izmir and Ankara, but now PC sales have received a new stage as the focus of demand shifted towards Anatolia.  This is expected to continue as the rate of PC sales rises. PC sales has affected the purchase of related products such as DSL subscriptions, routers, software and other IT products & services.

The broadband internet market reached 73.8 million users in the year 2018 and the number of fixed users is 13.4 million.  xDSL technology is the main in Turkey, with 9.5 million users. Also, there are 2.8 million fiber optics, and 932,000 cable internet users.  The fixed broadband rate in Turkey is 16.3%, compared with the 30.4% the average OECD, which means a great potential in Turkey. 

The Fiber optics infrastructure have boosted the fixed broadband market, with Turkish Telekom leading the market with 256,000km of fiber optic infrastructure compared with other companies, which their fiber optic length totals 68,000km. 

And the GSM frequencies in the Turkish market start from 800 and go up to 2600 MHz

And as for frequency variation, Turkcell possesses the widest spectrum.

This attractive consumer electronics trend has lured many international and national electronic retail supermarkets to establish a presence in the market. 

And because of that German MediaMarkt, Turkish Teknosa, Vatan bilgisayar and Gold Bilgisayar have been competing for several years in Turkey.

Leading Sub-Sectors in the ICT in Turkey

• 5G-related technologies and services/IOT

• Consumer electronics

• M2M communication/Robotics supported by Artificial Intelligence/ Augmented Reality applications

• Cyber security solutions

• Fiber optic solutions

• Blockchain solutions

• Wireless equipment and services

• Internet Protocol Television (IPTV)

This sector is considered one of the priorities of the Turkish government, in order to attract investments in the telecom market. And just last year, it allocated $ 5 billion for this purpose from the government’s budget

Turkey also plans to make 5G mobile internet technology operational in 2020.

The main industries that 5G focuses on will be automotive, media, entertainment, energy, health and agriculture.

Primary industries of focus for 5G will be automotive, media & entertainment, energy, health and agriculture.

Furthermore, fiber optic solutions are gaining market access as Turk Telekom, TTNet and other ISPs make infrastructure investments.

The cybersecurity sector is also expected to grow because ICT security systems for companies and governments still need to attract substantial financing. This system is important for network security against attackers, viruses, e-mail, web security, and information restricted to the Turkish government that belongs to people such as identity, certificates, mobile security, system security, data, application security, etc.

The Turkish government has also increased expenditures on hardware and software to combat Internet threats.

In order to implement these defenses, BTK, Ministry of Transport, Maritime and Communications, Ministry of Justice and Interior, Turkish National Police and Turkish Army will continue to update their cyber security technologies. The Ministry of Transport, Maritime and Communications has formed some (cyber incident response teams), which are present in all state institutions and institutions to protect them from cyber-attacks. 

BTK and TUBITAK (Turkish Institute for Research and Development) and Ministry of Communications and Transportation are leading the government's efforts for this cyber security.