Why are 2G & 3G networks being phased out?
Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) across the globe are starting to phase out their 3G and 2G networks to make way for 5G.
Networks are calling it sunsetting. But with large numbers of machine-to machine (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) applications still relying on 2G and 3G services, owners of these services must consider the need for decommissioning, SIM swaps, upgrading and/or complete replacement of devices.
The sunset of 2G and 3G technologies has been a concern for Internet of Things (IoT) product developers for some time. With 2G set to be switched off in many countries by 2025 we are now seeing the deployment of the last generation of devices that depend on these standards. The next generation of IoT products will begin to use the latest Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technologies to ensure they remain connected throughout their lifecycle.
Wireless Logic is here to help
A successful migration to LPWAN or 4G needs careful planning. Sit down with a Wireless Logic IoT connectivity expert and…
- We will assess your current and projected 3G/2G IoT applications
- We will propose a range of options and help you map out a deployment or transition plan
- We’ll focus on optimising your Total Cost of Ownership
Our ‘Preparing for the sunset of 2G & 3G’ guide, gives an easy to understand explanation of the changes and the steps that you should take to prepare for them.
In this guide you will discover:
- sunsetting in more detail, why it’s happening and the impact and timescales
- the benefits of the next generation LPWAN technologies
- your next steps to future-proof your existing or planned IoT deployments
To understand the impact on your deployment and for help on how to plan for this change…
2G & 3G Network Sunset Dates
Whilst we will try to maintain this list as accurately as possible, we are not tracking each network globally for updates. Networks not appearing on this table may not have publicly stated their plans for 2G or 3G network sunsets. Officially networks only need to give three months’ notice to confirm the shutdown of network services.
| COUNTRY | NETWORK | SERVICE | CLOSURE | DETAILS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albania | Vodafone - Albania | 2G | December 2025 | 2G closed in 2025 at the earliest |
| Australia | Optus | 2G | 2017 | 2G network closed in 2017 |
| Australia | Telstra | 2G | 2016 | 2G network closed in 2016 |
| Australia | Telstra | 3G | June 2024 | Indicated 3G network closure by June 2024 |
| Australia | Vodafone Australia | 2G | 2018 | 2G network closed in 2018 |
| Austria | A1 Telekom Austria | 3G | December 2025 | 3G network planned closure by end 2025 |
| Bahrain | Bahrain Telecommunications | 2G | December 2020 | 2G network planned closure by end 2020 |
| Bangladesh | Grameenphone Ltd | 3G | July 2025 | 3G sunset likely beyond 2025 |
| Brazil | Sercomtel | 2G | July 2016 | 2G Network closed in 2016 |
| Bulgaria | A1 Bulgaria | 3G | December 2025 | |
| Canada | Rogers | 2G | December 2021 | Phasing out 2G services from December 2021 |
| Canada | Rogers | 3G | 2025+ | 3G Network closure timing unconfirmed |
| Canada | SaskTel | 2G | July 2017 | 2G Network closed in 2017 |
| China | China Mobile | 3G | December 2020 | 3G network closure by end 2020 |
| China | China Unicom | 2G | December 2021 | 2G Services being withdrawn by the end of 2021 |
| Croatia | Hrvatski Telekom | 3G | December 2022 | 3G closure by end 2022 |
| Czech Republic | T-Mobile Czech Republic | 2G | December 2025 | |
| Czech Republic | T-Mobile | 3G | December 2021 | Indicated 3G network closure from December 2020 |
| Czech Republic | Vodafone Czech Republic a.s. | 2G | December 2025 | 2G network closed in 2025 at the earliest |
| Denmark | Telenor | 2G | December 2025 | 2G network closure estimated by 2025 |
| Denmark | Telenor | 3G | July 2022 | Indicated network closure by July 2022 |
| Denmark | Telia | 2G | December 2025 | 2G network closure estimated by end the of 2025 |
| Denmark | Telia | 3G | April 2021 | Indicated 3G network closure from April 2021 |
| Denmark | TDC | 3G | December 2022 | Phasing out 3G by the end of 2022 |
| Denmark | 3 Denmark | 3G | December 2025 | 3G network closure by end 2025 |
| Egypt | Orange Egypt | 2G | Indicated that they will switch off 2G soon | |
| Estonia | Telia Eesti | 2G | December 2025 | |
| Estonia | Telia Eesti | 3G | December 2025 | |
| Finland | DNA | 2G | December 2025 | |
| Finland | DNA | 3G | December 2023 | |
| Finland | Elisa | 3G | December 2025 | 3G network closure by end 2023 |
| Finland | Telia Finland | 2G | December 2025 | |
| Finland | Telia Finland | 3G | December 2023 | Indicated 3G network closure by end 2023 |
| France | Orange France | 2G | 2024 | No earlier than 2024 |
| France | Orange France | 3G | 2021 | Removing 3G support from 2021 |
| Germany | Deutsche Telekom | 2G | December 2020 | Indicated 2G network closure by December 2020 |
| Germany | Deutsche Telekom | 3G | June 2021 | Indicated 3G network closure by June 2021 |
| Germany | Tele2 | 3G | 2025 | Indicated 3G network closure by 2025 |
| Germany | Telefónica Germany | 3G | December 2021 | Indicated 3G Network closure by the end of 2021 |
| Germany | Vodafone | 2G | December 2025 | 2G network closed in 2025 at the earliest |
| Germany | Vodafone | 3G | June 2021 | Indicated 3G network closure by June 2021 |
| Greece | Cosmote Mobile Telecommunications | 3G | December 2021 | Estimated 3G network closure end of 2021 |
| Greece | Vodafone-Panafon Hellenic Telecommunications | 2G | December 2025 | Indicated 2G network closure by end 2025 |
| Greece | Vodafone-Panafon Hellenic | 3G | December 2022 | Indicated 3G network closure by end 2022 |
| Hong Kong | China Mobile | 2G | December 2020 | Phasing out 2G services from December 2020 |
| Hong Kong | Hong Kong Telecommunications (HKT) | 2G | September 2021 | 2G network switch off by September 21 |
| Hong Kong | Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong | 2G | September 2021 | 2G network switch off by September 21 |
| Hong Kong | SmarTone Mobile Communications | 2G | September 2021 | 2G network switch off by September 21 |
| Hungary | Vodafone Hungary | 2G | December 2025 | 2G network closed in 2025 at the earliest0 |
| India | Bharti Airtel Limited | 2G | December 2023 | Phasing out 2G services from December 2023 |
| India | BSNL | 3G | December 2024 | Indicated 3G network closure by end 2024 |
| India | Vodafone | 3G | June 2020 | Indicated 3G network closure by June 2020 |
| Indonesia | XL Axiata | 2G | December 2022 | 2G network closure by end 2022 |
| Ireland | Vodafone Ireland | 2G | December 2025 | 2G network closed in 2025 at the earliest |
| Italy | Vodafone Italia | 2G | December 2025 | 2G network closed in 2025 at the earliest |
| Italy | Vodafone Italia | 3G | February 2021 | Indicated 3G network closure by February 2021 |
| Japan | KDDI | 3G | March 2022 | 3G service is CDMA |
| Japan | NTT DOCOMO | 3G | March 2026 | |
| Japan | SoftBank | 3G | January 2024 | |
| Liechtenstein | Swisscom Ltd | 2G | 2020 | Indicated 2G network closure by end 2020 |
| Lithuania | Telia Lietuva | 2G | December 2025 | |
| Lithuania | Bite Lithuania | 2G | December 2028 | Estimated closure dates - not confirmed |
| Lithuania | Bite Lithuania | 3G | December 2025 | Estimated closure dates - not confirmed |
| Lithuania | Telia Lietuva | 3G | December 2022 | Indicated 3G network closure by end 2022 |
| Luxembourg | POST Luxembourg | 3G | July 2022 | |
| Malaysia | Celcom Axiata Berhad | 3G | December 2021 | 3G network closure by end 2021 |
| Malaysia | Digi Telecommunications | 3G | December 2021 | 3G network closure by end 2021 |
| Malaysia | Maxis Broadband | 3G | December 2021 | 3G network closure by end 2021 |
| Malaysia | U Mobile | 3G | December 2021 | 3G network closure by end 2021 |
| Malta | Vodafone Malta | 2G | December 2025 | 2G network closed in 2025 at the earliest |
| Mexico | AT&T Comercializacion Movil | 2G | September 2019 | 2G network closed in 2019 |
| Myanmar | Telenor Myanmar | 2G | December 2024 | 2G network switch off estimated by end 2024 |
| Myanmar | Telenor Myanmar | 3G | December 2025 | 3G network switch off estimated by end 2025 |
| Nepal | Nepal Doorsanchar | 3G | July 2021 | CDMA to be switched off by July 2021 |
| Nepal | Nepal Telecom | 3G | July 2021 | Indicated 3G network closure by July 2021 |
| Netherlands | KPN | 2G | No confirmation of plans for 2G | |
| Netherlands | KPN | 3G | January 2022 | Indicated 3G network closure by January 22 |
| Netherlands | Tele2 | 3G | 2025 | Indicated 3G network closure in 2025 |
| Netherlands | T-Mobile | 2G | November 2020 | Indicated 2G network closure from November 2020 |
| Netherlands | T-Mobile | 3G | 2021 | Indicated 3G network closure from January 2021 |
| Netherlands | Vodafone | 2G | December 2025 | Indicated 2G network closure by end 2025 |
| Netherlands | Vodafone | 3G | February 2020 | 3G network closed in February 2020 |
| Netherlands Antilles | Telcell N.V. | 2G | January 2019 | Closed Jan 2019 |
| New Zealand | 2 degrees New Zealand (NZLNH) | 2G | March 2018 | Shut down its 2G network in March 2018 |
| New Zealand | Vodafone New Zealand | 2G | December 2025 | Likely 2G network closure by Dec-25 |
| Norway | Telenor Norge AS | 2G | 2025 | Indicated 2G network closure in 2025 |
| Norway | Telenor Norge AS | 3G | December 2021 | 3G to be phased out during 2020 |
| Norway | Telia Norge | 2G | December 2025 | 2G network closed by 2025 |
| Norway | Telia Norge | 3G | 2021 | 3G to be phased out by end of 2021 |
| Pakistan | Telenor Pakistan | 2G | December 2025 | Likely 2G network closure in 2025 |
| Pakistan | Telenor Pakistan | 3G | December 2025 | Likely 3G network closure in 2025 |
| Puerto Rico | AT&T Mobility Puerto Rico | 3G | February 2022 | Likely 3G network closure in February 2022 |
| Romania | Vodafone Romania | 2G | December 2025 | Likely 2G network closure by December 2025 |
| Portugal | Vodafone Portugal | 2G | December 2025 | Likely 2G network closure in 2025 |
| Portugal | Vodafone Portugal | 3G | March 2022 | Likely 3G network closure in March 22 |
| Puerto Rico | AT&T Mobility Puerto Rico | 2G | 2017 | 2G network closed in 2017 |
| Saudi Arabi | Saudi Telecom Company (STC) | 3G | December 2022 | Likely 3G network closure by December 22 |
| Singapore | M1 | 2G | 2017 | 2G network closed in 2017 |
| Singapore | Singtel | 2G | 2017 | 2G network closed in 2017 |
| Singapore | StarHub | 2G | 2017 | 2G network closed in 2017 |
| Spain | Movistar (Telefonica Spain) | 3G | 2025 | Indicated 3G network closure in 2025 |
| Spain | Telefonica | 3G | 2025 | 3G network closure by end 2025 |
| Spain | Vodafone | 2G | 2025 | Indicated support for 2G until 2025 |
| Spain | Vodafone | 3G | 2022 | Phasing out 3G support from 2022 |
| Sweden | Tele2 | 2G | December 2025 | Likely 2G network closure by December 25 |
| Sweden | Tele 2 | 3G | December 2025 | Indicated 3G network support will cease in 2025 |
| Sweden | Telenor Sverige | 2G | December 2025 | Likely 2G network closure by December 25 |
| Sweden | Telenor Sverige | 3G | December 2025 | Likely 3G network closure by December 25 |
| Sweden | Telia | 2G | December 2025 | Likely 2G network closure by December 25 |
| Sweden | Telia | 3G | December 2025 | Indicated 3G network support will cease in 2025 |
| Switzerland | Sunrise Communications AG | 2G | 2019 | 2G network closed in 2019 |
| Switzerland | Swisscom Ltd | 2G | December 2020 | 2G Network closed at the end of 2020 |
| Switzerland | Swisscom Ltd | 3G | December 2022 | Indicated 3G network closure after December 2022 |
| Taiwan | Taiwan Mobile | 2G | June 2017 | 2G network closed in 2017 |
| Taiwan | Taiwan Mobile | 3G | 2019 | 3G network closed in 2019 |
| Taiwan | Chunghwa Telecom | 2G | June 2017 | 2G network closed in 2017 |
| Taiwan | Far EasTone Telecommunications Co Ltd | 2G | June 2017 | 2G network closed in 2017 |
| Thailand | CAT Telecom | 2G | October 2019 | 2G network closed in 2019 |
| UAE | Emirates Integrated Telecommunications | 2G | December 2022 | 2G network closure by end 2022 |
| UAE | Emirates Telecom | 2G | December 2022 | 2G network closure by end 2022 |
| UK | EE | 2G | 2025 | Planning to support 2G until 2025 |
| UK | EE | 3G | 2022 | Planning to support 3G until 2022 |
| UK | O2 | 2G | 2023 | 2G phase-out confirmed, but have no confirmed dates |
| UK | O2 | 3G | 2023 | 3G phase-out confirmed, but have no confirmed dates |
| UK | Three | 3G | 3G phase-out confirmed, but have no confirmed dates | |
| UK | Vodafone | 2G | 2025 | Planning to support 2G until 2025 |
| UK | Vodafone | 3G | December 2022 | Phasing out 3G support by end of 2022 |
| USA | AT&T | 2G | 2017 | 2G network closed in 2017 |
| USA | AT&T | 3G | 2022 | Indicated 3G network closure from early 2022 |
| USA | Sprint | 2G | December 2021 | Shut down its 2G CDMA network at end 2020 |
| USA | T-Mobile | 2G | December 2022 | Indicated 2G CDMA network closure in December 22 |
| USA | T-Mobile | 3G | October 2021 | 3G service will end on 1 October 2021 |
| USA | Verizon | 2G | December 2020 | Shut down its 2G CDMA network at the end of 2020 |
| USA | Verizon | 3G | December 2022 | 3G Network closure to be complete by the end of 2022 |
| Vietnam | GTEL Mobile | 2G | January 2022 | Indicated 2G network closure from January 2022 |
| Vietnam | Mobifone | 2G | January 2022 | Likely 2G network closure by January 2022 |
| Vietnam | Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) | 2G | January 2022 | Likely 2G network closure by January 2022 |
| Vietnam | Vietnamobile Telecommunications | 2G | January 2022 | Likely 2G network closure by January 2022 |
| Vietnam | Viettel Group | 2G | January 2022 | Likely 2G network closure by January 2022 |