Minister Y?ld?r?m calls on operators to begin fiber mobilization

Transportation, Maritime Affairs and Communication Minister Binali Y?ld?r?m has called on operators to launch a campaign to bring fiber everywhere in Turkey as soon as possible. 

"Let's leave aside small calculations. Let's leave aside the saying that if other [operators] invest in fiber, we will make a loss and fall behind," Y?ld?r?m said Feb. 9 during a signing ceremony of GSM and IMT200/UMTS Concession Agreements between the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) and three operators in Istanbul.

"We know the problems in the implementation of services. We have started to work to solve these problems," Y?ld?r?m said. "You cannot plan for the future by relying on the current capacity," Y?ld?r?m added, adding that the level of Internet traffic was way below the levels in developed countries.

Turkey's three main operators, Türk Telekom, Turkcell and Vodafone, have disagreed on how to forge ahead with extending fiber networks in Turkey, creating controversy within the industry.

Y?ld?r?m said citizens now demanded uninterrupted service from anywhere. Moreover, the paths of communication should be expanded to meet the increasing demand from customers, he said, giving the examples of highways built in the last decade that had decreased the rate of traffic accidents by 62 percent.

"The agreement we are signing today is aimed at expanding existing roads. We currently have a capacity of 183 Mhz, and we are now adding a capacity of 365 MHz. This means that communication will be much faster than now," Y?ld?r?m said.

The minister also said the infrastructure was ready for the new technology but that the task of establishing the substructure belonged to operators.

Noting that the 900 band had only...