Postponed: Turkey delays 4G tender after Erdogan remarks
Instead of the planned date of May 26, the tender will now take place on August 26
Services to be available by September 2014, cover 70% of urban areas. DESIGN: ALI DARAB
ISTANBUL:
Turkey has delayed its planned tender for 4G mobile technology licences, reports said on Saturday, after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sowed confusion by saying the country should skip straight to 5G technology.
“If we wait two more years, then 5G is going to come along. Otherwise when Turkey gets 4G it will just get put on the rubbish heap,” said Erdogan. Industry experts have cast doubt on Erdogan’s comments, saying that it risked being far more than two years before 5G technology arrived in the country.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 17th, 2015.
Turkey has delayed its planned tender for 4G mobile technology licences, reports said on Saturday, after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sowed confusion by saying the country should skip straight to 5G technology.
The transport and telecommunications ministry has decided to postpone the tender auction for fourth generation mobile technology licences by three months, the Hurriyet and Milliyet dailies said.
Instead of the planned date of May 26, the tender will now take place on August 26, the dailies cited the ministry as saying. The surprise decision comes after Erdogan on April 21 suggested that Turkey could skip 4G entirely and jump to 5G.
“If we wait two more years, then 5G is going to come along. Otherwise when Turkey gets 4G it will just get put on the rubbish heap,” said Erdogan. Industry experts have cast doubt on Erdogan’s comments, saying that it risked being far more than two years before 5G technology arrived in the country.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 17th, 2015.