COUNTRY FOCUS : TURKEY
Large scale technology initiatives by leading telecom players in the country , namely Turkcell , Vodafone and Turk Telekom , and close partnerships with technology vendors are transforming the country into a data centre hub supporting the development and build up of an East-West Internet highway .
Building a data centre hub connecting East and West
Camlica hillside , Istanbul
With a population of more than 85 million and a GDP that is amongst the global top 20 , Turkey is an upper-middle-income and emerging country .
Turkey ’ s technology and telecom players have a vision of modernising the historical Silk Road , that connected West and East Asia at one point of time , as a conduit of trade , into a digital highway connecting West and East countries of the globe .
According to US based , International Trade Administration , the Turkish telecom market is highly developed , and yet still has room to grow . In the mobile market there is a strong demand for highspeed data services . Nearly all of Türkiye ’ s 98 million mobile phone users use smartphones . 4G service will continue to grow until 5G begins to take over . The major GSM cellular operators in Türkiye are Turkcell , Vodafone and Turk Telekom .
New technology investments and the transition to 5G technology are accelerating the expansion of the sector . Localisation is a priority in 5G development and localisation requirements are frequently written into tenders for 5G projects .
ZTE , Nokia , Nortel Telecom , Alcatel , Siemens , Ericsson , and NEC supply most fixed-line switches , trans-multiplexers , and other traditional telephone equipment . Nokia , Ericsson , and Huawei are major network providers in Türkiye . Cisco , Motorola , Nokia , Ericsson , and Siemens are the main GSM switch and base station suppliers .
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