South Africa’s communications minister, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, has outlined plans to shut down its 2G and 3G networks by 2025, as she urges the country to keep pace with the digital economy.
The 2G network is the second generation of cellular telephone technology and was introduced in 1992. It was the first to offer data services and SMS text messaging. It was replaced by 3G, which could transfer data faster and let people make video calls.
The proposal has since been pushed for public comment and has met with mixed reactions from local analysts. Most feel that shutting down 2G is a smart move, but some see a shutdown of 3G as unrealistic in the medium term.
The plans are part of a draft ‘Next Generation Radio Frequency Spectrum Policy’ from South Africa’s Department of Communications & Digital Technologies (DCDT), which was approved by the country’s Cabinet last week.
Ntshavheni proposed that South Africa’s 2G networks be switched off by June 2024, ahead of the 3G switch-off by March 2025.
To ensure these targets are met, Ntshavheni has proposed that the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) ban the distribution of 2G devices by the end of June 2023. Meanwhile, at-licenses for 3G services are expected to be prohibited after September 30, 2024.
During her talk, Ntshavheni noted the roadmap will look at when South Africa has full 4G and 5G coverage so that the country “can participate in the digital economy.”
At a press briefing, DCDT minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said, “Spectrum is a finite resource. The adoption of more advanced technologies for economic growth must be matched by a deliberate program to retire old technologies to ensure more spectrum is made available for the country to access broadband,” DCDT minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said at a press briefing.
“As a result, this policy proposal sunsets 2G and 3G networks in order to free up more spectrum for deployments of 5G and beyond technologies,” she added.
The policy document said that the shutting down of older generation networks needs to be done “in a planned, coordinated and less disruptive manner.”
Vodacom has previously stated its intentions to switch off 2G services by 2024, while MTN says it may shut down its 3G services first. But the telecommunications operators, Vodacom, MTN, and Telkom, have called for more consultation over the government’s plan to terminate 2G and 3G services by 2025.
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The companies have warned that further talks are necessary to ensure users won’t be impacted as the government pushes ahead with plans to get South Africans onto newer technologies based on 4G/LTE and 5G.
“Telkom supports the decommissioning of the 2G network. However, we believe that the decommissioning process should follow industry-wide consultation,” a Telkom spokesman said.
“Telkom carries less than 1% of data traffic on its 2G network without further investment into the technology. While 35% of our voice has been migrated to voice-over-LTE, we still carry a significant amount of voice on the 3G network and don’t believe the 2025 deadline is realistic.”
MTN South Africa corporate affairs executive, Jacqui, said, “MTN believes that the legacy technology switch off of mobile technologies is required so that spectrum is used for spectrally efficient mobile technologies. However, this needs to be managed in a phased approach to migrate users to newer technologies.”
“We envisage that the 3G shutdown will occur sooner while leaving a 2G layer to cater for the legacy 2G devices, which will take longer to migrate. We believe that the proposed timelines depend on several further factors that MTN will engage on.”
The largest mobile operator in South Africa said that it is “analyzing the feasibility of the timelines” that the minister suggested. The company will “engage further with the minister in this regard,” said a spokesman. “We think that the decision to turn off 2G and 3G networks will need to be made with input from many different groups.”
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In the draft policy document, the minister describes the proposed shutdown dates for 2G and 3G services as part of a “road map” that will ensure the termination of services is done in a coordinated manner that causes “minimal disruption to services.” The dates are not set in stone and will be subject to a “continuous review” to free the so-called high-demand spectrum.
The draft document says, “The minister will issue a policy direction for the shutdown of the old generation and inefficient networks after consulting with the regulator and industry.” update,2G, “The minister will continuously review, update, and publish a revised road map for the shutdown of old-generation and inefficient networks.”
The main drawback of turning off 2G is related to machine-to-machine (M2M) and IoT services that use 2G, particularly vehicle tracking systems, some legacy emergency systems, private alarm systems, and smart meters.
“The merchants will have to upgrade to the latest generations, mainly 4G. Now that the government has made announcements and given a timeline, there should be enough time for them to do so.”
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This transition will likely cost some sectors a lot of money to replace or upgrade terminals and sensors to run on 3G or 4G.
There is also still a small portion of the population that is reliant on 2G devices for mobile communications. This raises affordability issues as they are forced to migrate from 2G feature phones to more expensive upgraded devices, but analysts say the trend of phones becoming cheaper continues.