Assc. Prof. Dr. Ömer Arasıl
President of the Institute of Telecommunications

Dear Readers,

It is the first time that I have the opportunity to address you from "Telekomunikasyon Ekseni". Telecommunications sector is one of the exceptional sector that has a well educated labor force in our country which is rich in human resources. It is this quality that has attracted my attention and delighted me in this dignified duty.
As an institution, we endeavor to fulfill our duties which include regulation, authorization, inspection and arbitration within the framework of our legal authority together with all our social partners to the best of our abilities. Our vision is to provide the sector with a complete liberalization in the rich variety of competition.
In the liberalization process the function of our institution will mostly be regulation. After the liberalization our function in the regulation will be reduced to the minimum and we will mainly deal with our duties of active inspection and arbitration to found a rich variety of competition.
The establishment of our institution is of utmost importance with respect to the continuity, order, reliability and transparency of the sector. In addition, as long as we can establish a rich variety of competition in the sector, new managers and new investors will join the sector, the employment will rise, and an important contribution will be gained for the budget of the state.
Another benefit I would like to stress is that, we fully understand the limits of our autonomy as an unbiased administrative institution. We are very well aware of the distinction between those who are elected and those who are appointed in a democratic parliamentary system. We realize that our autonomy is not beyond those who are elected and we try to fulfill our duties impartially within the framework of their trust and of the authority we have been given, without feeling any pressure on us.
The world is on the way to becoming an information society and the great advances in technology are completely changing the structure of the telecommunications sector. Within this framework, while on the one hand the borders of the market are disappearing, on the other all the telecommunications systems are being integrated into the digital world. With the increase in diversity of products in the sector, telecommunications services are becoming an indispensable part of life.
Information technologies and the information economy reveal, even focus on, the differences in development among countries and with the "digital divide" issue, the criteria of development are gaining a different meaning. In such an environment, we have important duties to fulfill in order that our country acquires worldwide competitive power.
Finally, I would like to point out that during the 16th Plenipotentiary Conference underway in Marrakesh-Morocco organized by the International Telecommunications Union, Turkey received 109 of 149 votes in the Council elections and has been elected as a member of the Council in a challenging group including the European Union member states. I would like to share the honor of getting such an important success in the international arena with all our Country and I express my unbounded gratitude to all the people and institutions that made efforts towards getting this success.
It is a great source of pleasure to share with you the advances of our sector in the national and international area.
Sincerely yours,