Connecting the Region

Türk Telekom International (TTI) is a leading telecommunication operator in the CEE region, Turkey, Caucasus, Middle-East and Asia. It provides a full range of Internet/data services, infrastructure and wholesale voice services to incumbents, alternative carriers, mobile operators, cable TV companies, Internet service providers and corporate customers. Diplomacy&Trade talked to Türk Telekom International Group CEO, Şükrü Kutlu about TTI’s infrastructure and operations in Hungary and elsewhere in East Central Europe.

Türk Telekom International has vast experience in providing a wide variety of telecommunication services. As to what it means for the Group’s Hungarian subsidiary, Türk Telekom International Hu Ltd., and its clients that it belongs to such a wide international network, the CEO pointed out that the company is a leading regional operator in the fields of international data, fiber infrastructure, international wholesale voice communication and mobile roaming through its subsidiaries located in 17 countries and with its headquarters in Budapest.
“This unique geographical positioning at the crossroads of Europe, the Middle East, and Asia data traffic is one of TTI’s main advantages in the market. TTI reinforces this critical advantage with its state-of-the-art network,” Şükrü Kutlu said.
TTI has a terrestrial fiber optic network of approximately 45,000 kms and more than 100 PoPs across 22 countries. It has access to three submarine cable systems: the SEA-ME-WE-5 submarine fiber optic cable consortium connecting Europe to Asia; MedTurk connecting Turkey, Middle East, and Europe; and KAFOS (Black Sea Fiber Optic System) opening from Black Sea to Europe.
The CEO added that TTI is also an important regional player in the field of wholesale voice and SMS transport and international mobile roaming and is constantly increasing its activity in emerging markets such as Africa, the Far East and Latin America.
“TTI’s unique geographical positioning, state-of-the-art network connecting Europe and Asia, diversified product portfolio, and experienced data and voice teams are our key strengths that make us stay a step ahead of our competitors and are also main values we are offering to our clients,” he explained.

Connecting the region
Türk Telekom International has a major presence on the East Central European market, not just in Hungary. Regarding plans for the upcoming years, CEO Şükrü Kutlu stressed that part of TTI’s vision is to continue expanding its infrastructure and provide alternative, high quality, high capacity and low-cost routes to its customers. “As a result of this vision and despite all the challenges presented by the global pandemic, TTI successfully completed two major investment projects in the last year.”
One of these major investment projects is the TTI New Backbone, connecting Sofia, Budapest, and Vienna through two different protected routes in Europe with endpoints in Edirne, Turkey and Frankfurt, Germany – each with a fiber network of over 3,400 kms. “The new backbone provides high speed and quality service to our customers at more affordable prices,” he said.
The second project is the integration – to TTI’s network – of KAFOS, which is a subsea telecommunications cable system that spans through the Black Sea connecting Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, and providing seamless connectivity between Turkey and Europe.
In addition to these, very recently, TTI, in cooperation with several leading regional operators, initiated the ambitious The Alternative Middle East Europe Route-2 (AMEER2) project, which will be built as a 7,550-km-long high-capacity fiber-optic cable system – with terrestrial and submarine segments – connecting Bahrain, UAE, KSA and Jordan to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea and Turkey. The state-of-the-art cable will provide the shortest path possible from the Middle East to Europe in a cost-effective manner, he added.

Growth story possible
Over the past few months, Türk Telekom International has often emphasized in its statements that it is happy to be back physically at international events. Talking about the challenges pandemic restrictions have posed in TTI’s business, the CEO highlighted that TTI’s staff is present in different cities from Vienna to Moscow. “Due to the pandemic, physical communication between TTI staff was not possible for a while. However, TTI’s digital infrastructure enabled our operations and communication to continue seamlessly.”
On the other side, with the pandemic, the importance of digitalization is even more accentuated. There was a sharp increase in demand and this trend is expected to continue in the future. Changing consumer trends, such as social media usage, online streaming and remote working contributes to the tremendous traffic growth.
“Within this context, the quality, speed, continuity and latency of the internet connection has become more significant than before. As a result, competition is tougher. In this competitive environment, it is apparent that supplying core data and voice services alone is not enough to grow your business. Having a growth story is possible through exploring services beyond core areas. Value added enterprise services become indispensable to meet both customer expectations and company growth,” he stated.
This new challenge also forces TTI to go beyond the core business of international capacity transport and add value to its infrastructure with new services that can meet the needs of the current telecom landscape.
“TTI’s versatile IP product portfolio is designed to this end. Major global cloud and content providers have already commenced operations in Istanbul via TTI’s IP products and robust network capabilities such as four diverse fiber routes from Western Europe into the main datacenters in Istanbul. In addition to that, TTI is always looking to expand its partner ecosystem and provide new services that enterprise customers demand. TTI’s managed SD-WAN service, Global MTN and TTI Cloud Connect Service are some examples of TTI’s corporate services,” Türk Telekom International Group CEO, Şükrü Kutlu concluded.