The trend of turning off 2G and 3G waves to promote the development of 4G and 5G in the world

135 mobile operators worldwide have been shutting down 2G and 3G networks.

Nowadays, we are witnessing a real revolution with smartphones along with the rapid development of mobile data services that have made 2G and 3G technology lose its important position. Therefore, many mobile operators and telecommunications regulators in many countries have been planning to turn off 2G and 3G mobile networks to reduce network operating costs as well as reuse 2G and 3G spectrum for 4G and 5G networks.

According to the report released in July 2022 by GSA on the situation of 2G and 3G shutdowns of mobile operators around the world, as of the end of June 2022, GSA has identified 135 operators that have completed, planned or are in the process of shutting down 2G and 3G in 68 countries/territories, including:

Illustration photo.

75 mobile operators in 42 countries/territories have completed or planned to shut down 2G; among them, 23 mobile operators in 14 countries/territories have completed shutting down 2G and 52 mobile operators in 32 countries/territories have planned to shut down 2G.

75 mobile operators in 40 countries/territories have completed, planned or are in the process of shutting down 3G; among them, 26 mobile operators in 15 countries/territories have completed shutting down 3G; 44 mobile operators in 30 countries have planned to shut down 3G and 5 mobile operators in 5 countries/territories are in the process of shutting down 3G.

Europe is the region with the most mobile operators that have switched off 2G and 3G in the world.

By region, Europe is the region with the largest number of 2G and 3G networks that have been turned off, are planning to be turned off, or are in the process of being turned off, with 96 networks (accounting for 63%), of which 3G networks are being prioritized by many European countries to be turned off before 2G networks.

For example, in the Netherlands, Vodafone and KPN switched off 3G in February 2020 and April 2022 respectively; in Italy, Vodafone switched off 3G in February 2021; in Norway, Telia, Network Norway and Telenor all switched off 3G in 2021; in Romania, Telekom switched off 3G in July 2022; in Slovenia, Telekom switched off in September 2022; in Germany, Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone switched off 3G in June 2021, while Telefónica / O2 will switch off 3G by the end of 2022; some operators such as Denmark's TDC, Vodafone and Greece's Wind have plans for the end of December 2022. The remaining carriers mostly plan to turn off 3G waves in the period 2023 - 2025.

For 2G networks, network operators in Europe mainly have a roadmap to shut down the signal in the period 2025-2030, only a few network operators have been and are shutting down the 2G signal such as Swisscom of Switzerland (December 2020), Hutchinson 3G of Ireland (December 2021), and Sunrise network operator of Switzerland (December 2022).

Following Europe is the Asian region, where the 2G and 3G shutdown process is also quite active, with 31 networks, accounting for 21% of the network operators that have, are, and plan to shut down 2G and 3G networks in the world. In contrast to the European region, countries in the Asian region tend to shut down 2G networks before 3G networks. In particular, Japan is the pioneer in shutting down 2G networks when all three major network operators in this country, including NTT DoCoMo, KDD, and SoftBank, shut down 2G networks in 2011 and 2012.

Some other typical countries/territories in the region have implemented 2G shutdown such as Taiwan, when all three major carriers of this country including Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile and Far EasTone stopped 2G services in 2017 except for emergency calls. Taiwan stopped 2G service when they still had 90,000 subscribers, equivalent to 0.3% of the total mobile subscribers in the country.

Thailand also turned off 2G waves in 2019 when the number of 2G subscribers of the three network operators AIS, DTAC and TOT was 1.3 million, equivalent to 1.4% of the total number of mobile subscribers in the country.

Singapore was also one of the first countries in the region to shut down 2G services, with all three carriers M1, Singtel, and StarHub ceasing 2G services in 2017. Meanwhile, in South Korea, LG Uplus was the last carrier to shut down 2G services in June 2021, after KT Telecom and SK Telecom had previously shut down 2G services in 2012 and 2020, respectively.

Several other territories such as Macau and Hong Kong have also stopped providing services on 2G networks nationwide in 2015 and 2022. However, besides the countries that have completed the 2G shutdown, many other countries are also trying to do it but are also facing many difficulties. For example, China, one of the countries with the fastest growing 5G mobile subscribers in the world, is also struggling to implement the 2G shutdown due to the large number of 2G mobile subscribers and Internet of Things (IoT) devices using 2G networks.

China's three major mobile operators, China Unicom, China Mobile, and China Telecom, are taking slightly different approaches to shutting down 2G and 3G. Aside from China Unicom's efforts to shut down 2G, China Mobile is trying to phase out its TD-SCDMA network and keep its 2G network, while China Telecom is aiming to shut down both 2G and 3G by around 2025.

Currently, the roadmap to shut down 3G in the Asian region is also being considered by some countries. For example, Indonesia is aiming to shut down its 3G network soon to focus resources on developing 4G and 5G coverage. The Indonesian Ministry of Communications and Information has called on operators to shut down 3G first. Shutting down 3G is preferred over shutting down 2G because 3G will be replaced by more efficient 4G and 5G, while 2G is mainly used for voice communications.

In 2022, Indonesian operator Telkomsel began shutting down its 3G network in East Jakarta, after expanding its 4G network in this area and other parts of Jakarta. To support the shutdown and allow customers to immediately switch to 4G service, the operator partnered with carriers to launch affordable 4G products.

Similarly, in June, Indonesia’s Airtel Lanka also began the process of shutting down its 3G network to free up spectrum for 4G use. Airtel Lanka will have 15 months to carry out this transition and migrate customers from 3G to 4G in accordance with local government regulations.

In Malaysia, the 3G network shutdown plan is also underway and is expected to be completed by the end of this year as scheduled by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission. As some areas of Malaysia are facing poor or no 4G coverage, the country's mobile operators are accelerating their 4G network coverage to meet the expected 3G shutdown.

In India, the country's mobile operators have switched off 3G before 2G, with Airtel and IDEA India switching off 3G in 2020, while Vodafone is expected to complete the switch in 2022.

According to GSA data, North America has only 8 networks, accounting for 5% of the number of carriers that have planned to shut down 2G and 3G waves in the world, typically the United States and Canada. Accordingly, in the United States, major carriers such as AT&T, Verizon and Sprint have all shut down 2G waves, while T-Mobile is expected to shut down 2G waves in December 2022. 3G networks have also been shut down by US carriers such as T-Mobile (October 2021), AT&T (February 2022), Sprint (May 2022). Similarly, in Canada, major carriers in this country have also shut down 2G waves such as Bell Mobility, Telus Mobility andRogers Wireless.

The rest of the world, such as the Middle East and Africa, has only 8 networks, accounting for 5% of the carriers that have planned to shut down 2G and 3G in the world, while Oceania has only 7 networks and Latin America and the Caribbean has only 2 networks.

Countries around the world are taking different approaches to shutting down 2G and 3G networks.

In the world, countries are having different approaches to turning off 2G and 3G waves, while most countries in Europe tend to turn off 3G waves before 2G, on the contrary, in Asia, countries here tend to turn off 2G waves before 3G. Meanwhile, in some regions of the world such as Africa, where people's living standards are still low, 4G devices are quite expensive compared to the living standards of people here, the 2G network continues to be maintained to serve basic connections such as voice calls and text messages.

The shutdown of 2G and 3G will allow mobile operators to reduce the burden of operating costs of legacy technologies, optimize network management, upgrade infrastructure to facilitate the growing adoption of 4G and 5G, and have the opportunity to move traditional telecommunications services to data platforms. On the other hand, the frequency spectrum used for 2G and 3G will be reused for 4G and 5G networks to increase the overall capacity and coverage of 4G and 5G networks, creating enhanced user experiences and opening up a new generation of mobile connectivity.

According to the GSA, the rate of 2G and 3G network shutdowns is expected to increase in the coming years, with many mobile operators globally planning to turn off these networks. The increasing number of 4G and 5G devices and the adoption of newer technologies is slowing the adoption and use of 2G and 3G networks, which will drive the need for operators and countries to free up 2G and 3G spectrum for reuse in 4G and 5G networks.

And the lesson for shutting down 2G waves in Vietnam

Choosing the time to turn off 2G waves is very important to ensure the harmony of interests of the State, businesses and users. If the 2G waves are turned off too early, when the number of subscribers is still too large, it will affect the interests of businesses and users, but if the waves are turned off too late, in addition to creating a burden on network operating costs, hindering the development of new mobile technologies such as 4G and 5G of telecommunications businesses, it also wastes the country's frequency spectrum resources.

Accordingly, the state management agency must provide a specific roadmap for shutting down 2G waves, as well as develop a frequency planning policy after shutting down 2G waves and arrange financial resources to support customers when switching devices. On the part of telecommunications enterprises, there should be a policy to encourage customers using 2G networks to switch to 4G or 5G networks by giving away free smartphones and/or providing cheap data packages to 2G subscribers when they switch and increase the coverage of new technologies to ensure that customers in remote areas can access 4G or 5G mobile waves.

2G and 3G networks have been shut down or are planned to be shut down in each area. Photo: GSA

2G shutdown will depend on the characteristics and specific situation of each country. There is no unified data on the percentage of 2G subscribers remaining to make it appropriate to shutdown. For example, Taiwan shuts down 2G when the number of 2G subscribers accounts for 0.3% of the total number of mobile subscribers in the country (about 90,000 subscribers), while Thailand shuts down 2G when the number of 2G subscribers accounts for 1.4% of the total number of mobile subscribers in the country (about 1.3 million subscribers).

In Vietnam, the Ministry of Information and Communications has set a target that by December 2022, only about 5% of the population will use 2G phones, or about 6 million 2G subscribers out of the total number of mobile subscribers in the country. At the conference to review the work of the first 6 months of 2022 of the Telecommunications units under the Ministry of Information and Communications, a representative of the Telecommunications Department said that the expected schedule for switching off the signal will be from January 1, 2023 in some suitable areas, and by September 2024, the signal will be officially turned off nationwide.

The official shutdown of the national radio wave in September 2024 is considered the appropriate time when the mobile telecommunications service business licenses and frequency use licenses of mobile network operators expire, the Ministry of Information and Communications will not renew the license for 2G/3G technology. Therefore, the transition to new technology and equipment, stopping old technology will be implemented vigorously in the coming period.