Optus to Shut 2G Network in April 2017

Optus will shut down its 2G GSM network at the start of April 2017, also allowing Optus to re-allocate some of this spectrum.

The Optus 2G GSM network was launched in 1993. Since each successive next generation mobile network is deployed initially about every decade, the Optus shut down suggests the useful lifetime for any mobile network generation can last more than two decades.

The decision on when to shut down each legacy network is largely a business decision, balancing declining usage, revenue and operating expense with the disruption remaining customers will experience.

“2G now constitutes a fraction of our total mobile network traffic and is declining significantly year on year,” said Dennis Wong, Acting Managing Director, Optus Networks.

The shutdown means 2G customers will need to migrate to 3G or 4G services.

Fixed network operators face a similar challenge as they ponder the timing of a shutdown of the legacy TDM voice network in favor of modern IP networks. 

As with the mobile decision, operators must balance the growing cost of supporting the legacy network, as customers migrate to the IP networks, against the disruption of shutting the whole PSTN down. More so than in the case of mobility, regulatory issues and business model issues loom large.

Many wholesale customers using the PSTN argue they will be adversely affected in any transition, unless they somehow can have similar or equivalent wholesale products in the IP domain, at equivalent prices, terms and conditions.

The facilities owners object, since PSTN pricing tends to be based on regulated business models and amortized facilities, while IP products--they argue--should reflect full cost recovery for the new networks, not simply incremental cost.


Facebook will keynote Spectrum Futures in Singapore, Sept. 10, 2015, featuring Chris Weasler, Facebook and Internet.org global head of spectrum policy & connectivity planning.Facebook and Internet.org.

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Other confirmed speakers will discuss spectrum sharing between LTE operators, spectrum sharing between Wi-Fi and LTE, new access platforms and the critical role spectrum plays for coming 5G networks.

At the same time, the intimate relationship between applications (Internet of Things), core networks (SDN. NFV, cloud computing, fog computing) and all access networks will be examined.

In the coming next generation network, clearly separating spectrum and mobile networks from Wi-Fi and fixed network access, core networks and cloud infrastructure, will be nearly impossible.