Mobile Telecoms Tracker
2G/3G Switch-off benchmark updated to reflect One New Zealand’s decision to delay its 3G shutdown by 9 months to the end of 2025
We recently updated the 2G/3G Switch-off benchmark within our Mobile Telecoms Tracker to reflect One NZ’s decision that it would delay its 3G network switch-off in New Zealand until 31 December 2025. It was previously due to complete the switch-off in March 2025. The operator now plans to shutdown both its 2G and 3G networks on the same timeline. This change also brings One NZ’s 3G switch-off broadly in line with competitors Spark and 2degrees in their plans to complete their 3G network switch-off by the end of 2025.
Elsewhere, Optus and Telstra in Australia are the most recent operators to complete their 3G network shutdowns, switching off service on 28 October 2024. In doing so, Australia has become the first of the 21 countries we track to complete both its 2G and 3G switch-off. According to our benchmark, six countries have so far completed the 3G switch-off, with the earliest finishers including Vodafone, Telefonica and Deutsche Telekom in Germany, and six have completed the 2G switch-off, with operators in Japan leading the way here, having done so in 2012.
Notice periods for both 2G and 3G switch-offs vary greatly, ranging from 12 years in the case of the 2G switch-off in the UK to 6 months for the 2G switch-off in South Korea (which was completed in 2021), although operators’ switch-off plans there were subject to prior Government approval. Generally, notice periods for the 2G switch-off exceed those for 3G. In both instances, public awareness campaigns and support for switching to newer, 4G/5G compatible devices tend to be the most common consumer protection interventions.
