Vodafone, one of the prominent operators of Turkey, today with its report focusing on Turkey’s digitalization journey. on the agenda.
The key information given by the company in this regard was as follows: In the “Digital Turkey 2030 Report” prepared by Vodafone in cooperation with the Policy Analysis Laboratory (PAL), Turkey’s status in digital transformation, potential development areas and possible economic impacts are evaluated in a comparative perspective with developed countries. In the report, which aims to shed light on Turkey’s digital century, the country’s digital transformation process and the policy steps proposed to accelerate this process are examined under the headings of Digital Society, Digital Company, Digital State and Digital Infrastructure. “Digital Turkey 2030 Report” published by Vodafone was introduced at the press conference. speaking at the meeting Engin Aksoy, CEO of Vodafone TürkiyeRecalling that digitalization is the basis of economic and social development, he said: “As Vodafone, we work for the digitalization of Turkey, while also leading the production of analyzes that examine development opportunities in this field and provide important data for public policy. In the ‘Digital Turkey 2030 Report’, we focused on the three most important elements of our country’s digital transformation process, namely society, companies and the state. We examined the infrastructure, which is the indispensable component and prerequisite of these elements, as the fourth axis. The year 2030 is the target date of global development cooperation represented by sustainable development goals. The target year of the digital strategies of most developed countries, especially the EU, is 2030.”
YOU MAY BE INTERESTED
“Digital skills play an important role in improving academic opportunities, accessing public services and job opportunities while facilitating citizens’ daily activities. While 30% of individuals in Turkey have at least basic digital skills, this rate is 54% in the EU. The EU’s official target is to increase this to 80% by 2030. To achieve this EU goal, we need a move that will enable 30 million people to acquire basic digital skills. We should aim to increase the proportion of the population with at least basic digital skills to 60%, then 80%. Only in this way can we make progress and contribute positively to the economy in areas such as accessing information over the internet, e-commerce, internet banking, and job creation. For this, the steps to be taken in the fields of education policies for digital skills acquisition and facilitating access to devices such as smartphones, tablets and computers are critical. At this point, we think that removing the device installment restrictions will be a step that will pave the way for access to the device.”
Engin Aksoy continued as follows: “Although the rate of companies using internet in Turkey has reached the EU average, only 60% of companies can access high speed internet. The analyzes show that there could be an additional 0.5% increase in GDP if all firms have access to high-speed internet, in other words, an additional revenue impact of $4.2 billion. In the report, we created a digitalization index to evaluate the performance of companies in key digitalization indicators and to measure the economic impact of the development to be achieved here. According to this index, 15% of SMEs in our country are medium-level digital, while only 4% are high-level digital. In large companies, these rates are 39% and 25%, respectively. An increase of 1 point in the digitization index scored out of 10 provides a 6% increase in the productivity of companies. If the average index score of all companies in Turkey is increased by 1 point, it will provide an additional 3% increase in GDP across the country, that is, an increase of $26 billion.”
“It should be aimed that the share of digital industries in the economy converge to the EU average, in other words, to increase to 5.5% and to increase the rate of companies using high speed internet over 30 mbps to 100%. The level of digitization should be increased by the acquisition of at least one new digital technology product by all companies. On the other hand, investments in this area gain importance as the need for data centers increases as companies go digital and use technologies such as cloud computing more. Compliance of data policies with international norms and increasing the attractiveness of incentives should be a priority. It is necessary to support the digital transformation of SMEs, especially micro and small enterprises, and to implement incentive programs for the development of IT companies.”
YOU MAY BE INTERESTED
Engin Aksoy also touched upon the issue of the Digital State and said: “The strong position of our country in e-government makes it possible to transition from e-government to Digital Government in the period leading up to 2030. The completion and implementation of the National Digital State strategy and the public cloud computing strategy, the initiation of initiatives to create value using open public data, and the dissemination of cloud computing systems in the public sector will be steps that will facilitate this process. Another issue is the implementation of initiatives that will improve the cooperation of operators and the domestic technology ecosystem in the development of products and services needed for the digitalization of the public. Focusing on domestic production that will increase added value, it is necessary to create a platform that determines future needs in a timely manner and sets out R&D, production and marketing plans accordingly. According to the current conditions and the development of technology, domestic product definitions should be made, including software products as well as hardware. In this way, with a planned domestic production policy, domestic production and use can be increased in both the public and private sectors.
“It is important for investments to transform old generation mobile technologies into new technology within an appropriate plan and to direct resources to new generation mobile technologies. Updating 3G by transitioning to new technologies is an approach that has become widespread in developed countries. Many service providers in Europe stopped investments for obsolete technologies and started to use the allocated spectrum in 4G and 5G or plan accordingly. Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy and many countries have announced at least one operator transition plan. The steps to be taken to use the existing 4.5G infrastructure more effectively in the coming period may improve the quality of mobile connection in the short term. In addition, making regulations aiming at efficient use of spectrum, especially frequency allocation, will both increase the performance of mobile networks and ensure the efficiency of investments. Sharing the spectrum usage roadmap, which includes the transition to new generation technologies, with the public can serve as a guide for planning long-term investments in the sector, including 5G.”
Sharing the steps to be taken in the field of Digital Infrastructure and pointing out that mobile and fixed broadband internet penetration in Turkey lags behind the OECD average, Aksoy said: “To reach the OECD average in mobile broadband subscriber ratio, our subscriber density needs to grow by 10% each year until 2030. This will increase GDP of up to 1% annually, i.e. contribute $7 billion to the economy. On the other hand, we see that the number of fiber subscribers per 100 people in Turkey is 6, the OECD average is 12, and 28 in the highest 10 OECD countries. In South Korea, one of the countries that show an exemplary development in digitalization, the fiber line length per kilometer is 4 times ours. To reach the same density, the fiber line needs to increase to approximately 2 million kilometers, and for this, it needs to increase by 17% every year. In this way, a contribution of 2.2%, or 19 billion dollars, to GDP will be provided every year until 2030.
“Our industry is in a strategic position that enables and facilitates digitalization. For this reason, we say that Türkiye should catch the OECD average in fiber by 2030. We should aim to compete with the leading countries in this field and accelerate investments. On the other hand, it is important to support the rapid transition to new technologies, especially in areas that will increase production efficiency, such as industrial zones, by prioritizing 4.5G instead of 3G by making frequency allocations and realizing 5G investments. It is important that the regulatory framework be of a quality that increases innovation and efficiency, and strengthens the investment and trust environment, in order to be able to progress in infrastructure investments and targets. It is critical to ensure the continuity of investments by considering the cost dimension of the regulations in areas that require heavy investment such as digital infrastructures. We need to move forward with a perspective that facilitates new technologies, digitalization and investments to be made in this field, and takes into account the cost of regulations.”