During the press conference on “Towards 5G and Beyond” organized by ULAK Communications Inc. at Bilkent Hotel, President of Defence Industries Prof. İsmail DEMİR mentioned the importance of the ULAK Project and said: “When this topic comes up on the agenda, the global giants who have invested billions of dollars and are ready to invest have asked us many times the question of how competitive a company that we established would be with an R&D below a hundred million dollars and a modest budget. We need to do this securely by putting forth the most effective solution with the maximum use of national and local elements considering it in terms of infrastructure, operator and public institutions, rather than making the cheapest purchase and putting forth the most effective solution. Here, it is very important for the users to regard this product as a domestic product, to be encouraging and to demonstrate this will with this approach, even if it has deficiencies. As the parties releasing the product to the market, the feedback received from the field will be very important unrevealing any deficiencies and correcting problems. In this respect, the use of ULAK and extending its use is extremely significant”. Expressing that they generally have been putting forth the  will to keep this product even faced with the huge price cutting and competitive approach of many of the world’s giant companies by providing certain subsidies, if necessary, as a government entity, Prof. DEMİR stated that another important aspect of ULAK is to move forward to an establishment of a company for an R&D Project and thus to accomplish a structure. Prof. DEMİR: “Another aspect of ULAK is its importance in terms of multi-use and sustainability. We not only have the elements that can be very effective in the field of defence and provide security in the operational environment, but also raise the sustainability topic related with civilian use. We do not claim that we are doing the best in the world right now, but we believe that we have to make efforts to be the best. We would like to point out that we are ready to cooperate with foreign companies whose products are currently being used in Turkey and which will support our technology roadmap, in good faith and with a win-win principle. In this process, there is a fact that approximately one billion dollars is  spent annually on information processing projects for the public sector. In the meantime, we will continue our efforts to create incentive measures for the maximum use of domestic and national products in our IT infrastructures including data centers, commercial and public communication infrastructures”.

Emphasizing that this is a journey of technology and they are determined on this issue, Prof. DEMİR continued: “When considering the rate of domestic goods involved in the 4.5G license agreement, and that operators’ 4.5G base stations investments by  2025 will be an average annual investment of operators of one billion dollars, ULAK base stations and Milat Network Management and Analysis System appear as an historical opportunity in this context and we will continuously raise this issue on the basis of all public and private companies”. 

Çınar Project is about to be Completed

ULAK Communications Inc. Chairman of the Board Celal Sami TÜFEKÇİ thanked the institutions and stakeholders who supported them in their efforts. Metin BALCI, CEO of ULAK Communications Inc. shared information on the ‘First 5G Data Transfer Demo’ executed with Aselsan and other projects that have been developed. Stating that ULAK is ready for 4.5G, BALCI emphasized that Milat Network Management and Analysis System, which is the national and domestic network management infrastructure, is now in use and he also touched upon the R&D activities for 5G and beyond. BALCI pointed out that they are planning to make the ÇINAR Project available to operators by March 2021.