Turning off 2G waves - an inevitable trend, promoting national digital transformation

Prepare to cut 2G waves from September 2024

According to information from the discussion, each country has different methods and goals when turning off 2G and 3G technology. However, if a network operator wants to deploy the 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 of money 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 chose to turn off 2G waves to promote national digital transformation.

Discussion "2G shutdown, what do people need to prepare?". Photo: Le Anh Dung

The goal is to complete the discontinuation of 2G technology by September 2024 at the latest. This is the time when mobile telecommunications service business licenses and radio frequency licenses expire, to comply with the radio frequency planning orientation.

The Ministry of Information and Communications has also oriented users to proactively switch to using smartphones; mobile businesses develop plans and support users to switch; mobile terminal manufacturing and trading enterprises in the Vietnamese market change their business orientation... to achieve the common goal of turning off old technology waves, while contributing to achieving the goal of popularizing smartphones and accelerating the national digital transformation process.

Speaking at the opening of the discussion, Mr. Vo Dang Thien, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of VietNamNet Newspaper, said that turning off old technology such as 2G and 3G is a common trend in the world. According to statistics from GSMA, by the middle of this year, 149 network operators have been and are turning off old technology. The majority of countries that have turned off 2G are developed countries, with 63% in Europe and more than 20% in Asia. Many countries have turned off 2G for a long time, such as the US, Singapore since 2017 and Australia in 2018.

Mr. Vo Dang Thien, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of VietNamNet Newspaper. Photo: Le Anh Dung

The Ministry of Information and Communications has had good policies to prepare for the shutdown of 2G waves, typically the issue of standardization, not allowing the import of 2G Only devices. Thanks to that, it will create conditions for the shutdown of 2G waves to have very little impact on users.

Turning off 2G waves brings many benefits to people and businesses, while promoting digital society, digital economy and digital government.

Specifically, for people, turning off 2G waves will help them switch to using higher quality 4G and 5G broadband services. At the same time, this also contributes to completing the goal of "One smartphone per person", popularizing smartphones to all Vietnamese people of the Government.

For businesses, they will be able to remove old technology from the network, reduce operating costs, and also contribute to the development of green technology. On the current network, 2G technology consumes a lot of electricity. Therefore, removing 2G is not only beneficial for businesses but also beneficial for society, towards green development.

As for the Government, turning off 2G waves will free up bandwidth for old technologies to switch to new technologies, bringing higher efficiency, while promoting digital society, digital economy and digital Government.

Currently, network operators are building and implementing policies to support users when 2G waves are stopped, focusing on two main supports: terminal device support and usage fee support so that customers can proactively switch to using smartphones.

Good opportunity for users to get acquainted with services in digital environment

At the discussion, Mr. Doan Quang Hoan, Vice President of the Radio Electronics Association, shared that turning off 2G waves is an inevitable trend that brings benefits to network operators, the State and the people. In Vietnam, turning off 2G waves is not only the responsibility of network operators, but also partly the responsibility of the State and the people. Turning off 2G waves will free up bandwidth to provide higher quality services and free up maintenance costs. And the most important thing is that people must have smartphones...

From the network operator's perspective, Mr. Le Dac Kien, Deputy General Director of VNPT VinaPhone, said: The unit determined that this was something that had to be done sooner or later, the company had a roadmap to prepare 4G stations to replace 2G; currently using the 900 frequency with long-range coverage. When 2G is turned off, some customers will be affected, however, VinaPhone has purchased cheap smartphone terminals, 3G and 4G feature phones, ensuring that people can experience it with peace of mind.

Delegates chairing the Discussion Panel

“Those who only need to make calls and send messages will not have any problems, they just need to switch devices. VinaPhone has committed to the Ministry of Information and Communications that by September, all customers will switch to 4G. Currently, there are about 1.5 million customers who have not switched, although many measures have been taken. Therefore, when 2G is turned off, some customers will be affected. However, we still have to synchronize management, policies, standards, and markets,” Mr. Le Dac Kien shared.

Mr. Nguyen Trong Tinh, Deputy General Director of Viettel Telecom, said: “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, the company has converted more than 2 million subscribers. From now until September 15, we will continue to make efforts to eliminate old technology and switch to new technology.”

Sharing at the discussion, Mr. Nguyen Phong Nha, Deputy Director of the Department of Telecommunications (Ministry of Information and Communications) said that today's discussion is mainly for communication, important policies for users. With the question 'What do people need to prepare?', we believe that the most important thing when approaching a new issue is information. When the information is complete, the meaning of the conversion is clearly understood, there will be consensus from users.

For 2G users switching to 4G smartphones, this is an opportunity to experience new services. Services that have never been used before, users can access the Internet, use public administrative services of the State from smartphone applications instead of accessing websites. This is an opportunity for people to access digital services, gradually forming a digital society, with the goal of creating conditions for users to access new technology.

The discontinuation of 2G technology is a good opportunity for users to get acquainted with services in the digital environment. Users in big cities, towns, and cities receive full information and are relatively ready to switch to smartphones. However, for people in remote areas, border areas, islands, the elderly, children, and those who do not have full access to information such as the young generation, the communication work of network operators, state management agencies, and units under the Ministry needs to be strengthened.

Businesses have had very good communication solutions. For example, Viettel has personalized communication to people in remote areas; MobiFone has a music-on-hold solution: when 2G subscribers receive or make calls, there is a related notification from the network operator about stopping 2G, support numbers, and support solutions; VinaPhone has policies to support both the device and communication through users.

Mr. Nguyen Phong Nha, Deputy Director of the Department of Telecommunications (Ministry of Information and Communications). Photo: Le Anh Dung

“We hope that businesses will continue to rely on subscriber data to analyze users in areas where information is not yet available, and where changing devices is still a problem. We will provide support in many different forms to ensure that users’ rights are guaranteed. From there, the network operator will also increase its position and reputation when providing important, basic services to users, as well as ensuring its reputation throughout the past service provision period. This is also an opportunity for the network operator to communicate about new services to users,” Mr. Nha emphasized.

He also added that from now until September, there needs to be greater determination and stronger involvement from network operators, media and reporters. The Ministry of Information and Communications has issued official dispatches and requests to the Departments of Information and Communications, People's Committees of provinces and cities, through grassroots information systems and wireless radio stations for network operators to communicate to users.

From the perspective of state management, the goal of the Ministry of Information and Communications is to work with the Government to build a digital society, a digital government, and bring people to the online environment. The Ministry of Information and Communications will continue to listen to the opinions of users and businesses to perfect policies and commit to continuing to communicate through mass media, press agencies, and grassroots media to join hands with businesses to communicate this to users.

Ha Van

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/tat-song-2g-xu-huong-tat-yeu-thuc-day-chuyen-doi-so-quoc-gia-post303973.html