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People who are using 2G Only phones need to be proactive or access support programs from mobile companies to make the switch to using 4G phones. Photo: TK

On July 18, VietNamNet Newspaper in collaboration with the Department of Telecommunications (Ministry of Information and Communications) organized a discussion "2G shutdown, what do people need to prepare?".

According to GSMA statistics, by the middle of this year, 149 network operators worldwide had been or are deploying to turn off the old technology. The vast 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.

Sharing about this issue, a representative of the Department of Telecommunications said that turning off 2G waves is a major policy of the Ministry of Information and Communications and has been oriented since 2019. In recent times, the Ministry of Information and Communications and mobile businesses have implemented many solutions to promote turning off 2G waves, in which, solutions to convert 2G mobile subscribers to use smartphones; developing broadband mobile infrastructure have achieved significant results.

Specifically, the ratio of smartphone users to total mobile phone users continued to increase to 82.3% (higher than the world average of 63%); 4G mobile network covers 99.85% of the population (by November 30, 2023, 2,233/2,853 villages and hamlets were covered).

The Minister of Information and Communications has issued a Circular on the planning of the 1800MHz and 900MHz bands for Vietnam's IMT public terrestrial mobile information system. This is the legal basis for the roadmap to stop using old mobile technology. Based on the planning of the 900MHz/1800MHz bands, the Ministry of Information and Communications will not re-license the use of the 900MHz/1800MHz bands if businesses do not have a plan to ensure that there are no more subscribers using terminals that only support the GSM standard (2G Only) operating on the network from September 16, 2024.

To implement the roadmap to stop 2G technology, the Ministry of Information and Communications has directed mobile network operators to deploy 4G network infrastructure, ensuring coverage to replace the switched-off 2G radio transceiver stations in all areas where the signal is turned off. At the same time, people using 2G Only phones need to proactively or access support programs from mobile companies, and switch to 4G phones to ensure continued use of mobile services.

Currently, according to the detailed plan for implementing the roadmap to stop 2G technology reported by mobile businesses, it is expected that the number of 2G Only subscribers by September 2024 will either decrease to 0 or remain at a small number of less than 5%.

Businesses are still working to ensure all users are informed and agree to the transition to 4G technology phones, so that mobile businesses can stop serving 2G Only subscribers.

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 areas, border areas, and islands.

Mr. Vo Dang Thien, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of VietNamNet newspaper, said that turning off 2G waves brings many benefits to people and businesses, while at the same time promoting the development of digital society, digital economy and digital government.

For the 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.

For the Government, turning off 2G 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 developing and implementing policies to support users when 2G waves are stopped, focusing on supporting terminal devices and supporting usage fees so that customers can proactively switch to using smartphones.

“Through this discussion, I hope there will be many valuable contributions to help management agencies, businesses and people switch from 2G to use 4G and 5G broadband services most conveniently, accelerating the national digital transformation process,” said Mr. Vo Dang Thien.