PARTNER CONTENT: Digital transformation is a major priority for enterprises of all sizes, with use of modern cloud infrastructure seen by Ceyhun Özata, Chief Corporate Sales Officer of Turkcell as central to this technological change.

During an interview with Mobile World Live for Win Win Live, Özata explained as was the case in many countries. Turkish companies: “from very small businesses to enterprises all need to transform their current process into digital platforms”.

“Otherwise, there is no way to compete locally and also globally,” he added. “Of course, there are some sectors like finance, retail, and energy that may come first, but in the long term all industries should take advantage of this new kind of technology.”

To help to meet this need Turkcell has made significant investments to develop its public cloud business, including in a collaboration with Huawei. Ozata expressed his belief it was “inevitable” companies of all sizes would end up putting their workflows onto the cloud.

“It’s a new big thing,” the executive said, highlighting benefits Turkcell was able to bring customers which correlate to its existing core business: “It is time to put new cloud features on top of robust connectivity and create value for all of our customers in Türkiye.”

“This is a core strategy for Turkcell because Turkcell is not only just a telecommunications operator but also a technology company. In the last ten years, it was transformed from being a basic telecommunications operator to a technology service provider,” Ozata added.

“So we have hugely invested in this area and we want to leverage our capabilities in terms of our technology, know-how and expertise both in this technology and emerging services.”

This is with the aim of developing: “an ecosystem around the cloud and creating great value for our customers in the near future with Huawei.”

Business services

Turkcell has a long history of expanding its capabilities into cutting-edge digital technology, alongside established businesses in IT and communications. Three years ago, it formed its Digital Business Services subsidiary to address changing needs of the enterprise sector in its home market.

The division launched in 2019 to provide end-to-end digital services to the operator’s corporate clients, centred on the ability to combine telecoms with system integration and cloud services.

The business unit also provides data centre, security services and offers up-to-date and boutique solutions from its team of specialists working with clients on their specific needs.

“With the help of this focused organization we are trying to create new products and services on top of our connectivity and also on top of our IT services, not just with our core technology services but also with the help of our partners,” Ozata said.

“Globally, and also locally, we have created and built that ecosystem for a one-stop shop to end users. They can benefit the advantage of just working with Turkcell for all their needs in terms of these kinds of new technologies”.

As with any new technology area or business change, there are a range of challenges which must be met to ensure real value is created for end users while understanding and addressing key customer pain points.

“In order to achieve success you need a talented workforce and it’s a really big challenge for not only Turkcell, but also for all the industry. This will be a challenge for us and also for other operators and technology providers all over the world.”

Discussing the industry need to create strong talent pools with the expertise in innovative technologies, Ozata said: “All operators need to invest in people and develop deep expertise, because the solution will come from them.”

“Collaboration is also important. It is the ecosystem game. There is no one winner. We have to be together to solve the problems of our sectors and also our countries.”

One of Turkcell’s key collaborations is with vendor Huawei, which has played a major role in the operator’s strategy to grow its cloud business

“With the technology-first insight, Huawei has extensive experience and also technology in their public cloud business. We are expecting to [use that] not just on the IaaS level, and also PaaS and the SaaS level,” he explained.

“Huawei will bring extensive and very powerful solutions for Turkey and the companies in different industries. I believe they will help us to solve the biggest challenge: to create a powerful ecosystem and talent in Turkey, to make training programs for Turkcell’s engineers and also our partners. ”

“We need to understand all the dynamics of different industries, like retail or oil and gas or finance, because there are lots of different kinds of expertise that you need to understand your customer, and also you have to be aware of the … benefits of the technology to solve the end users’ problems.”

Complementing fibre

Alongside its investments in cloud, wireless network and digital services Turkcell has spent big on residential fibre over the last 15 years. However, in order to solidify its position in this area the company is pursuing a converged strategy with its wireless offer. “As of today, we have reached more than five million homes [out of a] total home number in Turkey of around 25 million,” he said.

“You need other efficient technologies to reach all of the regions in Turkey. So WTTX is a complementary solution for us to provide fiber-like solutions to end users in homes in Turkey. It is the perfect match for us to provide home broadband services in mostly rural areas and also other cities of Turkey.”