The Telecommunications Department said that after March 1, 2G Only "brick phone" models that have not been certified by the Ministry of Information and Communications to be new standard will be blocked from being activated (with new SIM cards). These blocked 2G Only phones are the ones floating around the market. 2G Only phone models that are currently activated and standard will continue to be allowed to operate.
The above regulation of the management agency is like an arrow aimed at two targets. Not only is it a new step on the journey to completely shut down 2G networks in Vietnam, this regulation also helps block a source of electronic waste - poor quality phones that do not meet national standards and are smuggled into Vietnam.
There have been many warnings about the harmful effects of low-quality phones, such as being used by bad guys, being a "back door" for cyber criminals, or endangering users' health. To do this properly, the authorities need to come up with a solution to collect these "junk" phones and process them according to environmental safety standards.
Legally, 2G and 3G phones have been "banned" in Vietnam for a long time. As early as 2020, the Ministry of Information and Communications issued Circular 43, stipulating that all mobile phones manufactured domestically or imported from July 2021 must integrate 4G technology. According to experts, it is necessary to specifically identify this as a 4G smartphone, truly supporting 4G for both calling and data processing.
In addition, the shutdown of 2G waves must also take into account the fact that in Vietnam there are still many early 3G and 4G phone models that do not integrate the VoLTE calling feature, forcing calls via 2G and 3G waves. If 2G waves are turned off immediately, these phones will also be affected. Therefore, there needs to be an additional "soft transition" phase in addition to resolutely not developing new 2G subscribers.
According to the roadmap, by September 2024, major carriers will turn off 2G waves in many low-traffic areas. Up to now, Viettel has not only turned off 2G waves but also switched to the roadmap of turning off 3G waves. After the trial phase in 2020, Viettel has turned off 3G waves on a large scale in 2022 (with a scale of up to 35,000 BTS stations) to focus on developing 4G and 5G.
Source: https://nld.com.vn/mot-mui-ten-nham-2-dich-196240227204533642.htm
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