Turkcell has announced that it has been notified by the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’s (TRNC’s) Information Technologies and Communication Authority (Bilgi Teknolojileri ve Haberlesme Kurumu, BTHK) that the 4G/5G frequency auction (scheduled to be held on 6 October) has been suspended due to an objection made to the Competition Board. The BTHK was planning to award 16 blocks of spectrum to the two existing mobile operators in the TRNC, KKTC Telsim and KKTCell. The 4G authorisations will have an 18-year validity and will require successful bidders to deploy 4G technology with minimum downlink of 30Mbps ten months after licence award. Regarding 5G, the authorisations in the 700MHz and 3.6GHz bands will be valid for 15 years; licence holders will have three years to deploy 5G with minimum download speeds of 100Mbps to 60% of the population (95% within five years of licence award).

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