Weaknesses of IT in Turkey (analysis)

The telecommunications infrastructure

Though Turkey is very advanced telecommunications wise, the present lack of ISDN-like high speed lines is an important weakness for the Turkish telecommunications infrastructure and industry as a whole. Yet, judging from the speed at which the Turks have established a solid telecommunications base during he past 15 years, it can be believed that it won't be long before such services become available.

Software piracy

Though a new law has been voted that is supposed to protect software property, it seems that the Turkish culture does not help in enforcing such a regulation. People, including lawyers and judges, are not used to dealing with software piracy cases and issues. It will take time before the issue starts being taken seriously, and until then, the piracy rate will probably remain at about the same level as today, i.e., approximately 90%.

The economy

Though decreasing, the inflation rate of 75-120% witnessed in Turkey in the past years hinders the advances in every aspect of Turkey's economy. Investment in information technology is not an exception. Both the government and the private sector have great ambitions, but their unstable financial situation -- or at least the risk of its unstabilizing -- stands in their way.

The English language

Turkish IT businesses currently suffer from the fact that a very small portion of the Turkish population speaks English, as this language is often an absolute must for IT professionals' effectiveness on the job.

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