3G Korea turns off power from all over the world in 2026
On the 1st, 3G power was turned off at a German telecommunication company. Not only Germany but also major European telecommunication companies, the U.S., and Japan are announcing plans to end 3G. This indicates that it will devote more resources to LTE and new telecommunication networks in order to activate new services following commercialization of 5G.
First of all, Deutsche Telecom, a German telecommunications company, suspended 3G as planned from the night of June 30 to July 1. The frequency of 2100 MHz used in 3G has been reorganized for LTE and 5G. Germany’s Vodafone and Telephonica and O2 also started to end 3G sequentially at the same time as Deutsche Telecom. However, 2G still remains.
Starting with Germany, Samsung Electronics is going to join 3G suspension procession in many parts of Europe. British Telecom (BT) has announced plans to phase out 3G over the next two years. EE, Britain’s largest telecommunication company under BT, decided to end 3G in 2023. T-Mobile Poland is also preparing to end 3G in 2023. Italian telecommunications company TIM and Lithuania and Estonian telecommunications company Cosmote will stop 3G within this year. Spanish telecommunication company Telephonica is planning to end 3G by 2025.
There is an atmosphere that the U.S. can no longer postpone it. Verizon will complete 3G shutdown by December 31, 2022. Users will not be able to use 3G from 1 January 2023. Verizon initially tried to stop 3G at the end of 2019, but it delayed it several times to 2020 and 2022. According to Verizon, 99% of customers are currently using LTE and 5G, and less than 1% of users are accessing 3G. Verizon announced plans to end 3G next year and emphasized that it cannot extend the date. The explanation is that the customer has given enough time to complete the transition to the next telecommunication generation.
Earlier, U.S. telecommunications company TMobile decided to stop 3G sequentially in January 2022 and AT&T decided to stop 3G sequentially in February 2022. This means that 3G will not be available in the U.S. after next year.
Although South Korea has not announced plans to end 3G, it can be estimated around 2026. However, all 3 South Korean telecommunication businesses ended 2G completely after LG Uplus last month. Therefore, it is too early to discuss ending 3G at this point. According to statistics from the Ministry of Science and ICT (hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of Science and ICT), the total number of 3G subscribers in Korea stood at 4,172,659, accounting for 5.8 percent of all mobile subscribers. In light of the 2G case, the government has approved the termination of the service when the remaining subscribers are 1% overall.
Recently, SK Telecom decided through ‘Sustainability Report 2021’ that 3G network will be maintained for more than 10 years considering demands for 3G subscribers, resulting in continuous costs. It announced that it is considering 3G sharing plan with KT while adopting power efficiency and subscriber step-by-step movement strategy. SK Telecom and KT are going to jointly operate 3G network. However, this is just an idea and has not been discussed specifically 비아그라구입
SK Telecom and KT applied for reallocation of 3G frequencies that are about to end this year. If the frequency is reallocated this time, it can be used for the next five years. Ministry of Science and ICT has set a reallocation period considering when 3G ends. As a result, it can be predicted that South Korean telecommunication businesses will end 3G around 2026, which is five years later. Until then, telecommunication businesses need to try to convert LTE and 5G for 3G subscribers.
“3G’s rate system is lower than 5G and LTE, which leads to a decrease in average revenue per user. As 3G network ages, base station and equipment maintenance costs are incurred nationwide.” SK Telecom said in a report. “If 3G frequency band is converted into LTE, it can activate 5G ecosystem and increase limited frequency efficiency.”
“Foreign telecommunication industries are also planning to discontinue 3G services step by step.” “The need to contribute to 5G industry development and increase consumer benefits by terminating 3G services is mentioned.”
