On the morning of July 18, in Hanoi, VietNamNet Electronic Newspaper coordinated with the Department of Telecommunications (Ministry of Information and Communications) to organize a discussion "2G signal shutdown, what should people prepare?".
According to information at the seminar, each country has different methods and goals when turning off 2G and 3G technology. However, if a network operator wants to deploy new 5G mobile technology, maintaining the operation of too many parallel technologies such as 2G, 3G, 4G at the same time will cost a lot and be ineffective. Therefore, it is necessary to turn off old technology to optimize operations and reserve resources and radio frequency bands for new technology, meeting the development goals of the network operator and the country.
Vietnam has chosen to turn off 2G waves to promote national digital transformation. The goal is to complete the shutdown of 2G technology by September 2024 at the latest. This is the time when mobile telecommunications service business licenses and radio frequency band licenses expire, in order to comply with the direction of radio frequency planning.
According to a report by the Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), all countries in the world plan to stop 2G and 3G technology by 2030. 2G technology is 30 years old and 3G is nearly 20 years old, both are outdated technologies and need to be modernized. As of June 2024, about 37 countries have completely turned off 2G networks. 4G, 5G and soon 6G technology are the next evolution of mobile networks and offer optimization options including faster speeds, larger capacity and operational efficiency.
In line with the global trend and the reality of network deployment and service development, in Vietnam, both 2G and 3G technologies have been planned to be discontinued. 2G technology will be discontinued in 2 phases in 2024 and 2026, while 3G will be discontinued in 2028. According to the Ministry of Information and Communications, 2G technology will be discontinued in 2 specific phases as follows: Phase 1, September 2024, will stop serving subscribers using phones that only use 2G technology (2G only); Phase 2, September 2026, will stop the 2G system. Thus, by September 2024, mobile phones that only use 2G technology will not be able to connect to the network, which means they will no longer be able to communicate.
At the discussion, major network operators such as Viettel, VinaPhone, and MobiFone informed that the time to turn off 2G will not cause major disruption to users. People simply do one thing, which is to switch their SIM to another device that supports 4G. In reality, network operators have been and continue to gradually turn off 2G stations in areas where there is no traffic generated via the 2G network.
The complete shutdown of 3G technology will be implemented in September 2028. With the implementation of solutions to promote the shutdown of 2G waves, the number of 2G only subscribers has decreased significantly. As of May 2024, the number of 2G Only subscribers is more than 11 million, accounting for about 9% of the total number of mobile subscribers nationwide.
Mr. Le Dac Kien, Deputy General Director of VNPT VinaPhone, said that VinaPhone has accelerated the preparation process to turn off 2G waves, and in terms of network, has increased 4G coverage to replace it. VinaPhone is planning to prepare 4G stations to replace 2G. In terms of network, VinaPhone technology has a roadmap and is ready for everything.
VinaPhone has purchased cheap smartphone terminals, 3G and 4G feature phones. People are completely assured because the experience of that phone is the same as the old feature phone. People who only need to make calls and send messages will not have any problem, they just need to switch devices.
VinaPhone committed to the Ministry of Information and Communications that by September, all customers will switch to 4G. “Currently, we want to control tightly to avoid floating terminals on the market, we have to synchronize from management, policy, standards, market. On VinaPhone's side, we recommend customers to prepare mentally, sooner or later they will have to change, customers must have terminals, prepare funds, the network will support but not all of them”, Mr. Kien said.
Mr. Bui Son Nam, Deputy General Director of MobiFone, said that on the network side, the rate of 2G users has decreased very quickly at MobiFone, now about less than 5% of customers. MobiFone has deployed many solutions to support customers to switch to smartphones, support packages, participate with device retail chains to support the switch; deploy programs to support 4G feature phones.
When customers switch from 2G to 4G, essential services on demand can be used without being affected. The network operator also implements the policy of the Ministry of Information and Communications, optimizing and gradually turning off 2G stations; increasing investment in stations and 4G coverage. Basically, when implementing, MobiFone did not receive much feedback from customers.
Currently, 100% of 2G SIMs have been converted and all MobiFone customers have 4G SIMs. MobiFone hopes that state management agencies will increase communication about the shutdown of 2G waves to all people, so that they are aware of this before September 15. If they wait until the last day to convert, it will lead to overload.
Mr. Nguyen Trong Tinh, Deputy General Director of Viettel Telecom, said that Viettel is the network operator with the largest number of subscribers, so the number of 2G subscribers is also the largest. In the first 6 months of 2024, Viettel converted more than 2 million subscribers, a very large number compared to previous years.
Turning off 2G is beneficial to people and network operators. Viettel's goal is to eliminate old technology and switch to new technology. As of July 1, Viettel will not provide new services to any subscribers using 2G Only devices. This policy has reduced the number of 2G subscribers since the beginning of this year to only 1/5 compared to previous years, helping to eliminate new 2G subscribers. Viettel also offers very strong support policies such as reducing device prices by 30-50%...
Mr. Nguyen Phong Nha, Deputy Director of the Department of Telecommunications, said that the Ministry of Information and Communications has worked with the People's Committees of a number of provinces and cities; directed the Departments of Information and Communications of provinces and cities to advise the leaders of the People's Committees of provinces and cities to use legal sources in the area to support users, especially vulnerable users.
The Ministry of Information and Communications is and will continue to require businesses to implement solutions to protect consumer rights such as: communicating to each subscriber; having solutions to support terminal devices for users; especially vulnerable users such as the elderly, low-income people; people in remote, border and island areas.
TRAN BINH
Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/tat-song-2g-se-khong-co-nhieu-xao-tron-anh-huong-nhieu-toi-nguoi-dan-post749924.html
Comment (0)