The CEO of Turkcell stated nations are exploring completely different methods to strengthen management over their digital infrastructure
In sum – what to know:
Connectivity as sovereignty – Turkcell CEO stated telecom networks have change into a pillar of financial resilience and nationwide independence as connectivity infrastructure underpins safety and digital governance.
AI infra focus – GPUs, high-bandwidth reminiscence, and superior manufacturing are rising as strategic sources, however their manufacturing stays concentrated in a restricted variety of areas.
Sovereign cloud technique – Turkcell is partnering with Google Cloud to deliver AI and cloud infrastructure to Turkey whereas sustaining native governance and user-controlled encryption.
Digital infrastructure and synthetic intelligence are reshaping the function of telecom networks within the world economic system, based on Ali Taha Koç, CEO of Turkcell, who stated connectivity is changing into a pillar of financial resilience and nationwide sovereignty.
Talking throughout a keynote session at Cellular World Congress 2026 in Barcelona, Koç argued that the telecom sector is shifting past conventional connectivity towards a broader function in digital infrastructure and AI ecosystems.
“Our sector is not solely the supplier of the connectivity, it has change into a pillar of strategic resilience,” Koç stated. “We’re witnessing the emergence of a brand new function for our business, one which extends past enabling communication to underpinning the safety and sovereignty of the digital world,” he added.
Koç stated connectivity infrastructure has change into central to each financial growth and nationwide safety. “The worldwide system for cell communications is not a technical customary. It has change into a system of independence.”
For many years, the worldwide digital economic system assumed that technological innovation, digital entry and knowledge flows would change into more and more built-in and reasonably priced. In keeping with Koç, that assumption is now being challenged.
Referring to discussions happening in boards such because the World Financial Discussion board, he stated the shift is more and more described as geopolitical fragmentation.
“On this rising order, connectivity itself is not a mutual utility,” Koç stated. “Whoever builds and operates the quickest, most resilient infrastructure will outline the phrases of digital cooperation.”
Consequently, connectivity networks have gotten a brand new geopolitical frontier. “In such an period, knowledge sovereignty is rising as a brand new financial actuality,” he stated.
Koç added that nations that don’t management the infrastructure used to course of knowledge danger changing into depending on methods managed elsewhere.
“If you don’t management the engine that processes the info, at the moment, these days, it’s AI. And the chassis is required. And at the moment, that’s the infrastructure. You stay a passenger shifting alongside the highway outlined by others.”
The rising significance of synthetic intelligence infrastructure can be reshaping world know-how dynamics, Koç stated.
“The AI revolution, specifically, has remodeled GPUs, excessive bandwidth reminiscence, and superior manufacturing capabilities into strategic sources,” he stated.
Nevertheless, the manufacturing and distribution of these applied sciences are concentrated in a restricted variety of areas.
“But the manufacturing and distribution of those sources are concentrated inside a slender geography. And this focus is creating a brand new type of vulnerability for all of us.”
Koç argued that the world is more and more dividing between nations that construct digital infrastructure and people who depend upon it.
The CEO of Turkcell additionally stated nations are exploring completely different methods to strengthen management over their digital infrastructure. One idea gaining consideration is “geopatriation,” which he described as relocating knowledge, workloads, and digital infrastructure from world environments to sovereign nationwide domains.
“Geopatriation refers back to the relocation of workloads, knowledge, and digital infrastructure from world, subtle, and unsure environments again to the native sovereign area,” he stated.
Koç additionally stated many nations are pursuing partnerships between world know-how suppliers and nationwide telecom operators to develop sovereign cloud environments.
“At Turkcell, in partnership with Google Cloud, we’re bringing Google Cloud’s superior cloud and AI capabilities to Turkey,” Koç stated. Organizations will have the ability to encrypt their knowledge with their very own encryption keys and retailer it on infrastructure designed for prime ranges of safety and management.
In his keynote speech, Koç additionally described a broader transformation of the telecom business. “Telecom operators at the moment are not simply connectivity suppliers,” he stated. “We ship the whole energy behind AI. We function cloud infrastructure. We analyze knowledge at scale.”
In keeping with Koç, this evolution displays a shift from conventional telecommunications towards what he described as “technocommunications.”
“We’re coming into an period the place networks change into autonomous, anticipate human wants, and ship seamless digital experiences,” he stated.
Throughout MWC 2026, Turkcell chosen Ericsson to collectively develop, combine, and deploy superior Radio Entry Community (RAN) options. The pair stated that the collaboration will fast-track the evolution towards 5G-Superior capabilities within the nation, leveraging the current business launch of 5G companies in Turkey.
Throughout the occasion, Turkcell additionally signed an MoU with Mavenir to speed up the cell community operator’s deployment of voice and messaging AI functions.
