{"id":541561,"date":"2024-06-21T12:54:55","date_gmt":"2024-06-21T10:54:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=541561"},"modified":"2024-06-21T12:54:55","modified_gmt":"2024-06-21T10:54:55","slug":"south-african-2g-switch-off-warning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/541561-south-african-2g-switch-off-warning.html","title":{"rendered":"South African 2G switch-off warning"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Africa has started the process of switching off its legacy cellular networks, beginning by blocking the sale of new 2G and 3G devices this year.<\/p>\n

While sunsetting older cellular technologies will free up valuable network resources, some concerns remain that the switch-off could unknowingly impact essential systems.<\/p>\n

For example, there could be old sensors or other machine-to-machine (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) systems that only wake up every few months or even years to conserve battery power.<\/p>\n

After waking up, these sensors briefly attach to a 2G network, send an SMS or a few data packets with an update, then go to sleep again.<\/p>\n

However, MTN South Africa has told MyBroadband that not knowing which systems would be impacted was not the concern.<\/p>\n

\u201cMTN has full visibility of which device types and device capabilities are attaching to the MTN network,\u201d a spokesperson for the company said.<\/p>\n

\u201c2G is mainly used to provide voice services and, in some cases, low-speed data connectivity used by machine-to-machine devices and legacy IoT devices.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2021, Vodacom told MyBroadband that it did not have immediate plans to switch off its 2G network specifically for M2M and IoT customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese devices are often deeply embedded in other infrastructure, such as vehicles, utility plants, hospitals, and other mission-critical applications,\u201d Vodacom stated.<\/p>\n

MTN SA said it was working with M2M and IoT customers to provide guidance on the medium-term shutdown of its 2G network.<\/p>\n

It assured it provide them with sufficient time to upgrade their M2M and IoT modules to more efficient 4G technologies before the 2G network is entirely shutdown.<\/p>\n

MTN has declined to say<\/a> how many M2M or IoT subscribers it has, as the information is competitor-sensitive. Vodacom also doesn\u2019t report its IoT customers separately but said in its latest financial results that it supported 10.3 million IoT connections.<\/p>\n

\u201cMTN is managing the legacy mobile technology shutdown in a phased and systematic approach,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are running various user migration campaigns to notify affected customers. The interventions vary depending on the services consumed.\u201d<\/p>\n

MTN also noted that the dates for the switch-off are still indicative and subject to an impact assessment.<\/p>\n

Although the dates have yet to be finalised, the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) has stated that it wants operators to start shutting down<\/a> their legacy networks from 1 June 2025.<\/p>\n

By 31 December 2027, it wants 2G and 3G completely decommissioned in South Africa.<\/p>\n

MTN has stated in a notice on its website that it aims to switch off its 3G network by 31 December 2026. It has not given a date for shutting down its 2G network.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Nokia 3310 \u2014 the greatest cellphone ever invented, but 2G only<\/p><\/div>\n

The DCDT has also set additional deadlines for banning new 2G and 3G devices from South Africa in its recently-published Next-Generation Radio Frequency Spectrum Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

First, it wants type approvals on all new 2G and 3G devices halted by 30 September 2024.<\/p>\n

This means the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa will no longer approve new 2G and 3G-only devices, effectively blocking them from being sold locally.<\/p>\n

Devices already type-approved in South Africa can still be legally imported and sold.<\/p>\n

After blocking type approvals, the DCDT wants to ban networks from activating any new 2G and 3G devices on their networks on 31 December 2024.<\/p>\n

Vodacom previously told MyBroadband that it supported government more tightly controlling imports and type approval of 2G and 3G devices.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernment plays a key role in guiding this transition. The first step in the process involves managing the inflow of 2G and 3G devices into the country,\u201d it stated.<\/p>\n

However, while it supports controlling imports, Vodacom expressed concern about placing all networks on arbitrary switch-off deadlines for their legacy networks.<\/p>\n

\u201cVodacom has advocated for an industry-led timeline in response to the challenge of migrating users from legacy (2G\/3G terminals) to more digitally enabled 4G\/5G devices,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

It said it was already gradually migrating from legacy 2G and 3G technologies to modern 4G and 5G.<\/p>\n

Vodacom estimated that several million 2G and 3G devices remain active on South Africa\u2019s networks, as well as a few million machine-to-machine devices.<\/p>\n

It said it hoped the DCDT and other stakeholders would consider industry submissions, particularly the underlying factor of customer demand for 2G and 3G services.<\/p>\n

The following table summarises the DCDT\u2019s past plans to switch off 2G and 3G in South Africa and its more recently published deadlines. Red indicates a missed deadline, amber a deadline amended before it was missed, and black a new deadline.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Deadline<\/th>\n2G<\/th>\n3G<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
1 December 2023<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\nOriginal deadline for publishing final next-generation spectrum policy
\n(Cabinet approved: 29 November 2023. Only published on 28 May 2024.)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
31 December 2023<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\nProhibit new connections or activation of 2G devices<\/del><\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
31 March 2024<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\nShutting down 2G services<\/del><\/td>\nProhibit licencing 3G devices<\/del><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
30 June 2024<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\nShutting down 2G networks<\/del><\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
30 September 2024<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\nProhibit new connections or activation of 3G devices<\/del><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
31 December 2024<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\nShutdown of 3G services<\/del><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
30 March 2025<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\nShutdown of 3G networks<\/del><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
30 September 2024<\/strong><\/td>\nProhibit type-approval of new 2G and 3G devices<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
31 December 2024<\/strong><\/td>\nProhibit activation of new 2G and 3G devices on networks<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1 June 2025<\/strong><\/td>\nCommence shutting down 2G and 3G networks<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
31 December 2027<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\nTotal shutdown of 2G and 3G networks<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While switching off older cellular technologies will free up valuable network resources, there are some concerns that essential systems still running on 2G could unknowingly be impacted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":541567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[15727,92214,311,66538,35,18090,30678,41530,42,41],"class_list":["post-541561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cellular","tag-2g","tag-2g-switch-off","tag-3g","tag-department-of-communications-and-digital-technologies-dcdt","tag-headline","tag-independent-communications-authority-of-south-africa-icasa","tag-internet-of-things-iot","tag-machine-to-machine-m2m","tag-mtn","tag-vodacom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541561"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}