The Information and Communication Technologies Authority ("ICTA") published its 2018 Activity Report1 ("Report") which provides information on the activities carried out by ICTA during 2018.

According to the Report, ICTA determined nine (9) objectives within the scope of its 2019-2023 Strategic Plan2:

(i) generalization of high capacity stable, mobile and wireless wideband networks and services and development of fiber infrastructure, (ii) encouraging transition to local and national 5G and Beyond new generation communication technologies and local production, (iii) encouraging innovative digital technologies and services such as communication between machines ("M2M") and internet of things ("IoT"), (iv) increasing cyber security and ensuring user assurance on electronic media, (v) encouraging sectoral development and investment, and ensuring effective and sustainable competition environment, (vi) protection of consumers and users rights and interests, (vii) generalization of conscious, safe and effective use of internet, (viii) ensuring development of local and national satellite communication technologies and infrastructure, (ix) development of administrative and corporate capacity.

The Report includes the economic, administrative, regulative, supervisory and international activities carried out during 2018 by ICTA. The Report provides that as of the end of 2018, 444 operators are active in the Turkish market and authorizations given to these operators in 2018 include, but are not limited to, authorizations for in-vehicle emergency call system (E-Call), shared use of transmission lines and tools and embedded universal integrated circuit card (eUICC and eSIM) for M2M and IoT technologies.

As per the Report, following significant regulative and administrative activities have been carried out in 2018:

  • Draft Regulation on Radio, Television and On-Demand Broadcasting Provided through the Internet Platform has been issued.
  • Regulation on Electronic Communication Devices Security Certificates has been published on the Official Gazette.
  • Communiqué on Procedures and Principles on the Obtaining Electromagnetic Area Measurement Certificate has been published on the Official Gazette.
  • Draft Procedures and Principles on Institutional Encryption and Electronic Stamp Used for Document Sharing between Public Institutions and Organizations has been issued.
  • The Procedures and Principles Applicable to the Refunds to be made to Subscribers has been updated.
  • The practice of fair usage quota (AKN) has been banned as of December 31, 2018 with the decision of ICTA dated December 27, 2016. 3
  • The Procedures and Principles Regarding the Resolution of Consumer and User Complaints by Operators and Service Providers were enacted.

The rates of administrative measures taken in 2018 within the scope of Article 8 of the Law No. 5651 on the Regulation of Broadcasts via Internet and Prevention of Crimes Committed through such Broadcasts for the online contents based on catalogue crimes are declares as the following:

Obscenity 61.62%
Provision of Medium and Opportunity for Gambling 10.66%
Sexual Abuse of Children 1.89%
Provision of Dangerous Material for Health 0.10%
Prostitution 25.59%
Facilitating Use of Drug and Cordial 0.06%
Crimes against Ataturk 0.05%
Encouraging Suicide 0.03%

The numbers of applications received through Information Notification Center in 2018 regarding online contents are declared as the following:

Obscenity 74,026
Provision of Medium and Opportunity for Gambling 37,831
Sexual Abuse of Children 10,774
Provision of Dangerous Material for Health 2,427
Prostitution 53,991
Facilitating Use of Drug and Cordial 849
Crimes against Ataturk 4,279
Encouraging Suicide 6,830

Other significant activities carried out by the ICTA in 2018 are as explained in the Report as the following:

  • Operations regarding game contents and creation of the website of www.guvenlioyna.org.tr in which the contents of the games are analyzed.
  • Analyzed and categorized approximately three million web sites within the scope of the activities carried out for secure internet services.
  • ICompleted the project of Technical Assistance for Achieving the Harmony with EU Regarding the Implementation of Account Separation, Cost Accounting and Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC).
  • Provided the Turkish Competition Authority with its opinions for 15 applications made for electronic communication sector.
  • Extend the transition period until April 12, 2019 for the deregulation of the market related to access to mobile network and call origination following the analysis of competition concerns.
  • Attended meetings and executed a protocol with Middle East Technical University regarding the transfer of the management of domain names in Turkey.
  • Published the "White Book" which provides Turkey's priorities, strategies and road map regarding 5G and Beyond.

Center of Intervention to National Cyber Incidents (USOM) identified and controlled 32,495 harmful addresses including URL addresses, IP addresses and domains and access to such addresses were blocked.

Footnotes

1. https://www.btk.gov.tr/uploads/announcements/bilgi-teknolojileri-ve-iletisim-kurumu-2018-faaliyet-raporu-yayimladi/faaliyet-raporu-2018.pdf  (Last Access Date July 12, 2019).

2.  https://www.btk.gov.tr/uploads/pages/yayinlar-stratejik-planlar/btk-2019-2023-stratejik-plani.pdf  (Last Access Date July 12, 2019)

3. https://www.btk.gov.tr/uploads/boarddecisions/adil-kullanim-noktasi-akn.pdf (Last Access Date July 12, 2019).

This article was first published in Legal Insights Quarterly by ELIG Gürkaynak Attorneys-at-Law in September 2019. A link to the full Legal Insight Quarterly may be found here

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