Delivering the opening speech at the fair, Gül said Turkey was rapidly developing in the information sector and was not far behind the competition in the world. The president added that CeBIT was one of the most prestigious fairs in the world, with a respectable number of large companies participating despite the global economic crisis, and this further increased the value of CeBIT. Despite this positive remark in favor of the fair, some large Turkish companies, including Avea and Turk Telekom, opted not to participate on the grounds that the fair is no longer effective in terms of promotion.
Also speaking at the fair, Transportation Minister Binali Yıldırım noted that Turkey has completed the liberalization of the telecommunications sector, and now everyone can access information freely. The volume of revenues from the telecommunications sector has increased from $8 billion in 2003 to more than $30 billion by the end of 2008, the minister said, asserting that the sector continued to grow despite the ongoing global financial crisis. While there was no access to broadband internet in the beginning of 2003, Yıldırım said, today the number of subscribers is about 7 million, with roughly 35 million internet users. The number of computer owners has also climbed from 3.5 million to above 10 million, he added.
Yıldırım stated that they have been discussing Turkey's transportation and communication targets for 2023 recently, adding that 160 projects out of 1,000 have been selected for this aim. Yıldırım noted that CeBIT will help with the formation of a roadmap for their 2023 projects. Discussing one of the 2023 targets, Yıldırım mentioned raising the share of computer users to 60 percent in 2013 and then to 80 percent in 2023.
