A tender to create the infrastructure needed for 4G technology, which was planned to be held on May 26, has been postponed until Aug. 26, according an announcement on Friday by Transportation, Maritime Affairs and Communications Ministry's Information and Communication Technologies Authority.On April 21, two weeks after the tender announcements for 4G technology that was scheduled to be held on May 26, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Turkey should begin developing 5G networks instead of wasting money on 4G investments, adding, "There is no need to waste time with 4G. Turkey must switch to 5G within the next two years. Otherwise Turkey will turn into a 4G garbage dump."The authority announced the main reason was bidders demanded additional time to complete their technical and financial preparations. "Considering the developments in the field of mobile electronic communications and the work needed for the future, as part of the duty, authority and responsibilities of our ministry and our regulatory body, the Information and Communication Technologies Authority's work on the authorization for the International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) Services and Infrastructure (4G) were finalized by receiving opinions of the related parties including all the operators in the sector, and the tender process has started," said the announcement, adding the tender would be conducted after a three-month delay.The ministry said the tender on the Authorization for International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) Services and Infrastructure (4G) would be postponed until Aug. 26. According to a written announcement by the ministry, there has been a transformation from voice communication to data communication in the field of information and communication technologies, especially in the mobile sector in recent years.It was also said that although mobile electronic communication technologies such as 2G and 3G satisfied consumer expectations in Turkey in the past, some factors, including rich-in-content applications, speed expectations, mobile data and the increasing number of smartphones that consume large amounts of data, would cause the current mobile electronic communication network's capacity to fall short.After the tender postponement was announced, Turkcell said it would support every move that benefits Turkey. "As a brand that brought 3G technologies to Turkey, we established one of the most powerful 3G infrastructure networks in Turkey and in the world. We are the first and only operator that provides speeds of 63.3 megabits per second, which is the highest 3G speed in the world, for both infrastructure and Turbo T50 smartphones to fulfill our duty to Turkey's process of becoming a knowledge-based society and provide equal opportunities in information access," Turkcell announced."We are determined to dedicate our network, which carries Turkey to the top ranks in the league of mobile communications, to the process that will introduce a new generation of mobile communication technologies to our country. As Turkcell, we would like to reiterate that we will support every movement that serves to benefit the country as we have done for the past 20 years."