- ONF seen as the Champions League of world telecom sector
- International cooperation from Transport Ministry for 5G
MWC BARCELONA --- February 27, 2018-- Aimed to have a say in 5G technologies and beyond in the international arena, Turkey has taken another important step. Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications Ministry, which aims to increase mobile penetration in the country's rural areas by resolving the coverage insufficiency problem through its Universal Service Project, signed a collaboration agreement with the US-based Open Networking Foundation (ONF), one of the world's most important players in the development of next-generation communications technologies.
Cooperation between the Ministry and the ONF includes making the field work of open source M-CORD® infrastructure, which offers solutions for 5G wireless networks, in Turkey within the scope of the Universal Service Project. Thanks to this agreement signed on the sidelines of Mobile World Congress (GSMA) in Barcelona, the next generation communication technologies, developed at the ONF, which brings together giant technology and telecom companies among its members, will be tested and also implemented for the first time in Turkey.
Noting that as government, they aim to increase domestic and national technology production and export in the communications sector, as well as other sectors, in Turkey, Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communication Minister Ahmet Arslan said: “As Government, we have realized a collaboration with the ONF through which we once again showed our determination to pioneer the world in development of 5G technologies and beyond. With this agreement, we will have the opportunity to develop the new technologies and standards and to apply them rapidly in Turkey for the first time in the world. As part of this cooperation, one of our country’s distinguished institutions, Türk Telekom will field test the new technologies and implement them.”
ONF Executive Director Guru Parulkar also stated his content to work with Turkey in order to facilitate the production of new technologies and added: “We will test the ONF’s new technologies and open source M-CORD platform in cooperation with Türk Telekom through the Universal Service Project of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communication Ministry. Turk Telekom's commitment to deploying M-CORD is very exciting.”
Türk Telekom CEO Paul Doany recalled that the ONF is seen as the Champions League of world telecom sector in terms of its members and the projects it has realized so far and added: “Participating in such a world league and realizing cooperation projects will bring great advantages to our country as well as our company. We will once again assume a key role in this new collaboration between our Ministry and the ONF and enable the next generation open source communication technologies to be tested in Turkey for the first time in the world.”
Aimed to provideTurkey with a say in 5G technologies and beyond in the international arena and also to increase mobile penetration in the country's rural areas by resolving the coverage insufficiency problem through its Universal Service Project; Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communication Ministry has taken another significant step in the international arena. Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communication Ministry has signed a cooperation agreement with the US-based Open Networking Foundation (ONF), one of the world's major players in the development of the next generation communication technologies. Cooperation between the Ministry and the ONF includes making the field work of the open source M-CORD infrastructure, which offers solution for 5G wireless networks, in Turkey within the scope of the Universal Service Project.
The next generation communication technologies will be tested in Turkey for the first time in the world
With this agreement, the next generation communication technologies, developed at the ONF, which has world giants such as Google, AT&T, Deutsche Telecom, Verizon, Telefonica, Comcast, NTT and China Unicom among its members, will be tested and implemented in Turkey for the first time in the world. Therefore, Turkey will have a remarkable advantage in development and production of the next generation communication technologies, particularly 5G, developed at the ONF, where Türk Telekom is also a member of the Board of Directors. The cooperation agreement, in which Türk Telekom involves as implementing agency, was signed by Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communication Minister Ahmet Arslan and ONF Director Guru Parulkar at the Mobile World Congress (GSMA) in Barcelona.
Minister Arslan: Our position in the global economy gained strength with domestic and national production
Speaking at the signature ceremony, which was also participated by Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communication Ministry Communication General Manager Ensar Kılıç and Türk Telekom CEO Paul Doany, Minister Arslan underlined that Turkey, which has recently realized a mobilization in domestic and national technology production, will further strengthen its position in the global economy by realizing more international collaborations. Underlining that as government, they aim to increase domestic and national technology production and export in the communications sector, as well as other sectors, in Turkey, the Minister said: “We have added a new one to our activities that we carry out to make our country's 780 thousand square kilometers completely within the coverage area. As government, we have realized a collaboration with the ONF through which we once again showed our determination to pioneer the world in development of 5G and beyond technologies. With this agreement, we will have the opportunity to develop the new technologies and standards and to apply them rapidly in Turkey for the first time in the world. In this cooperation, one of our country’s distinguished institutions, Türk Telekom will ensure the testing and implementation of the new technologies.”
Minister Arslan: We are both in the heart and kitchen of the new technology
Reminding that Türk Telekom is a member of the ONF’s board of directors as a partner member since September 2017, Arslan said: "Türk Telekom is performing a key task for our country by participating both in the heart and kitchen of the ONF, a global platform developing new technologies. I aspire this new cooperation realized within the scope of the Universal Service Project, which we launched with the goal of bringing mobile voice and broadband internet service to the rural areas with a population up to 500 and bridge the digital divide, to be beneficial to our country and I thank everyone for their efforts."
ONF Director Parulkar: Turk Telekom's support is exciting
ONF director Guru Parulkar also stated he is pleased to work with Turkey in order to facilitate the production of new technologies and added: "We will test the ONF’s new technologies and open source M-CORD platform in cooperation with Türk Telekom through the Universal Service Project of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communication Ministry. Turk Telekom's commitment to deploying M-CORD is very exciting. By deploying M-CORD, their network will become the foundation for an advanced edge cloud implementing the latest in 5G capabilities including slicing, xRAN and disaggregated/virtualized EPC. Add to this the edge processing capabilities inherent in the M-CORD architecture, and Turk Telekom is poised to have the most advanced network in the region."
Turk Telekom CEO Doany: We assumed key role in the Ministry and ONF cooperation
Türk Telekom CEO Dr. Paul Doany recalled that the ONF is seen as the Champions League of world telecom sector in terms of its members and the projects it has realized so far and added: “Participating in such a world league and realizing cooperation within its key projects will bring great advantages to our country as well as our company. As Türk Telekom, we increase our R&D activities and realize international collaborations with the goal of providing always top-notch technology and high-quality service to our customers. One of our main focus areas in our all operations is to invest in Turkey. In this regard, we have assumed many significant roles in the Universal Service Project so far. We will once again assume a key role in this new collaboration between our Ministry and the ONF and enable the next generation open source communication technologies to be tested in Turkey for the first time in the world. In the upcoming period, we will continue to develop new projects and collaboration to invest in Turkey.”
About Türk Telekom Group
Türk Telekom, with 177 years of history, is the first integrated telecommunications operator in Turkey. In 2015, Türk Telekomünikasyon A.Ş. adopted a “customer-oriented” and integrated structure in order to respond to the rapidly changing communication and technology needs of customers in the most powerful and accurate way, while maintaining the legal entities of Avea İletişim Hizmetleri A.Ş. and TTNET A.Ş. intact and adhering to the rules and regulations to which they are subject. Having a wide service network and product range in the fields of individual and corporate services, Türk Telekom unified its mobile, internet, phone and TV products and services under the single “Türk Telekom” brand as of January 2016.
“Turkey’s Multiplay Provider” Türk Telekom has 13.7 million fixed access lines, 9.7 million broadband and 19.6 million mobile subscribers as of December 31, 2017. Türk Telekom Group Companies provide services in all 81 cities of Turkey with 34,502 employees with the vision of introducing new technologies to Turkey and accelerating Turkey’s transformation into an information society.
“Türk Telekomünikasyon A.Ş., providing PSTN and wholesale broadband services, directly owns 100% of mobile operator Avea İletişim Hizmetleri A.Ş., retail internet services, IPTV, satellite TV, Web TV, Mobile TV, Smart TV services provider TTNET A.Ş., , convergence technologies company Argela Yazılım ve Bilişim Teknolojileri A.Ş., IT solution provider Innova Bilişim Çözümleri A.Ş., online education software company Sebit Eğitim ve Bilgi Teknolojileri A.Ş., call center company AssisTT Rehberlik ve Müşteri Hizmetleri A.Ş., wholesale data, venture capital company TT Ventures Proje Geliştirme A.Ş, Electric Supply and Sales Company TTES Elektrik Tedarik Satış A.Ş. and capacity service provider Türk Telekom International, and indirectly owns 100% of subsidiaries of Türk Telekom International, TV Broadcasting and VOD services provider Net Ekran Companies, telecommunications devices sales company TT Satış Ve Dağıtım Hizmetleri A.Ş and payment services company TT Ödeme Hizmetleri A.Ş.”
About the ONF
The Open Networking Foundation (ONF) is an operator led consortium spearheading disruptive network transformation. Now the recognized leader for open source solutions for operators, the ONF first launched in 2011 as the standard bearer for Software Defined Networking (SDN). Led by its operator partners AT&T, China Unicom, Comcast, Deutsche Telekom, Google, NTT Group and Verizon, the ONF has now merged operations with ON.Lab to create a single organization driving vast transformation across the operator space. With operations now completely merged, the legal merger of ONF and ON.Lab is expected to be complete in late 2017. For further information visit https://opennetworking.org/.
