2G, 3G Services Will Stop Working After 2033 In This Country: Only 5G, 6G Will Work! Will India Follow Suit?

Britain has announced its plans to retire its 2G and 3G mobile networks by 2033.

Everyone On Board

All four of Britain’s networks – EE, Vodafone, O2, and Three- have assented to the timeline.

While BT, which owns the EE network, is already committed to ending its 3G service by 2023, now all the major carriers in the country will follow suit over the next decade.

The move will free up radio waves for 5G and eventually 6G services that will power technologies such as driverless vehicles, drones and virtual reality.

Cost Saving Measure

Operators will be able to reclaim spectrum to be used in 4G and 5G networks.

They can also save money being spent on powering and maintaining inefficient legacy equipment.

Fixing a date to end 2G and 3G services will allow new equipment makers to enter the market as they will no longer have to support legacy technologies.

Independence From Select Suppliers

Switching off the services will benefit customers since operators can fully transition to more energy-efficient and high capacity networks.

2G may remain in use for longer than 3G due to its wide coverage and comparatively low power requirements, making it ideal for some IoT deployments.

The UK government intends to end the dependence on a select few suppliers after China’s Huawei was banned from new networks last year.

Focus On Open RAN

To that end, it is actively supporting the development of Open Radio Access Networks (Open RAN) technology.

The government has ambitions that by 2030, 35% of the UK’s mobile network traffic will be carried over Open RAN.

Digital Secretary Nadine Dorries announced 50 million pounds ($66.2 million) of additional funding for Open RAN projects.

Carriers in the US have also started phasing out old technologies, with Verizon planning to shut down its 3G network on December 31, 2022.