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Turkey’s new 4G mobile network comes with many dark clouds

While the fourth-generation mobile data network arrived in Turkey this month, high costs, insufficient infrastructure and potential concerns from the government mean doubts remain about the extent to which it will benefit citizens.
Turk Telekom Chief Executive Rami Aslan talks during a news conference to present new highspeed mobile data services (4,5G) in Istanbul, Turkey March 29, 2016. While 4G has been available in some markets for years. Turkey's plan to roll out the service was complicated last year when President Tayyip Erdogan suggested the country should "skip" 4G and wait instead until fifth-generation technology becomes available. The government then rebranded its tender for 4G mobile spectrum as "4.5G" although that is not

On April 1, the fourth-generation (4G) mobile data network finally arrived in Turkey — nearly eight years after arriving in Scandinavia and South Korea.

As Al-Monitor reported last year, Turkish mobile phone users had to wait for bureaucratic infighting and uncertain market conditions to clear up before they could use faster data connections. In May 2015, following an intervention by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and lobbying efforts by a mobile service provider that was not ready to compete, Turkey’s Information and Communications Technologies Authority postponed the 4G tender to August 2015.

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