Mobile operators launch a new next-generation network about every decade, and therefore eventually must decommission older networks. That has happened globally at least once, when the analog network was shuttered.
In some markets 2G networks are closed, or will be over the next few years. We also now are reaching the point where 3G will be shut down.
Since 4G arrived roughly a decade ago, it has been clear that both 2G and 3G networks eventually would be turned off. Here is an estimate of the expiration dates on some of those networks in Europe. Very soon, there will be less 2G or 3G left in Europe.
It never is pain free, as some customers stubbornly prefer older networks, and must either be migrated to more-modern networks or lost. The GSMA says 17 percent of U.S. subscribers, and 19 percent of U.S. mobile connections were used 3G at the end of 2018.
Opensignal says there are three main reasons some users continue to prefer 3G networks.
Opensignal says 83.2 percent of 3G-only users in the United States do not buy a 4G rate plan.
Some 12.7 percent of 3G-only users spent time exclusively in areas where 4G does not reach, and just 4.1 percent of 3G-only users lack a 4G-capable smartphone.
Convincing the few remaining customers on legacy networks to migrate never is completely painless, but has been done before, so mobile operators know what to do.
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