Many of our customers are worried about the impending shutdown of 2G & 3G networks around the world. Probably you're considering it as well. We have collected all the available information into one article, so you're in the right place.

The following article serves as part 2 of our popular blog post on the very same topic. The first edition covered everything that was known in March 2018. Since then there have been new announcements from telecoms around the world regarding their planned shutdowns.

Shutting down 2G and 3G networks is generally called sunsetting. The reason why telecoms are eager to shut down their 2G or 3G networks is that they want to free up resources for impending 5G deployments. If your intended module is designed to use 2G or 3G, the sunsetting can cause many problems with device deployments. So it's wise to prepare for the future without 2G and 3G networks.

2G and 3G are still essential for IoT and M2M devices because of their lower cost compared to 4G modules. Also, cheaper megabyte pricing and reliable worldwide coverage. Furthermore, the speeds of 4G are not relevant for IoT or M2M devices, which are sending minimal amounts of data. The 2G's slow connection is still fast enough for today's standards.

From our side, we can say that for truly global deployments, it's not reasonable to lock your device into only 2G or 3G. Or even have a module that allows switching between the two. However, if you're only targeting certain countries or regions where they are still a viable option, then we can't stop you.

Following is a list of shutdowns that have been announced or have already taken place.

North America:

United States

AT&T

• 2G Shutdown: January 2017
• 3G Last Activations: June 26, 2019
• 3G Shutdown: February 2022

Verizon

• 2G Shutdown Last Activations: June 30th, 2018
• 2G Shutdown: December 31st, 2019
• 3G Last Activations: June 30th, 2018
• 3G Shutdown: December 31st, 2019

T-Mobile

• 2G shutdown date: 31.12.2020

Sprint

• 2G Shutdown: December 31st, 2021
• 3G Last Activations: April 30th, 2019 
• 3G Shutdown: December 31st, 2022

Canada

Bell Mobility

• 2G Shutdown: 31.01.2017-01.06.2018 (depending on the region)

Telus Mobility

• 2G Shutdown: 31 May 2017

Rogers Wireless

• 2G Last activations: 1 July 2018
• 2G availability extension: 31 December 2020
• 3G Shutdown: End of 2022

Mexico

AT&T

• 2G Shutdown: Early 2020

Telefonica

• 2G Shutdown: September 2020

Europe:

Vodafone across Europe

• 2G Shutdown: Not until 2025

Switzerland

Swisscom (and Liechtenstein)

• 2G Shutdown: January 1, 2021

Sunrise Communications

• 2G Shutdown: December 31, 2018

Netherlands

T-Mobile

• 2G Shutdown: 15 November 2020

Norway

Telia

• 3G Shutdown: End of 2019

Telenor

• 2G Shutdown: December 31, 2025
• 3G Shutdown: Sometime in 2020

Sweden

Telia

• 3G Shutdow: 2025

Tele2

• 3G Shutdown: 2025

Germany

Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile)

• 2G Shutdown: December 31, 2020

Asia:

China

China Mobile

• 3G Shutdown: January 1, 2020

China Unicom

• 2G Shutdown: January 1, 2020

India

Airtel

• 3G Shutdown: March 2020

Reliance

• 2G & 3G shutdown date: 30.11.2017

Japan

Nationwide 2G shutdown in 2012

NTT DoCoMo

• 2G shutdown date: 01.03.2012

KDDI

• 2G shutdown date: March 2008

SoftBank

• 2G shutdown date: 31.03.2010

South Korea

KT

• 2G Shutdown: March 19, 2012

Taiwan

All carriers due to governmental regulation

• 2G Shutdown: July 1, 2017
• 3G Shutdown: December 31st, 2018

Thailand

All carriers due to governmental regulation

• 2G Shutdown: October 31, 2019

Singapore

M1

• 2G shutdown date: 01.04.2017

Singtel

• 2G shutdown date: 01.04.2017

StarHub

• 2G shutdown date: 01.04.2017

Oceania

Australia

Telstra

• 2G Shutdown: December 1, 2016
• 3G Shutdown: March 25, 2019 (turned off 3G connectivity on 2100MHz, continued support for 3G services on 850MHz)
• 3G complete shutdown: 2020 - 2030

• 2G Shutdown: August 1, 2017

Vodafone

• 2G Shutdown: June 30, 2018.
• 3G Shutdown: March 18, 2019 (turned off 2100MHz, continued support for 3G on 900MHz)

New Zealand

Spark

• 2G CDMA shutdown date: 31.07.2012

• 2G shutdown date: 15.03.2018

Fortunately, 2G and 3G sunsets don't have to be the end of the line for your deployment dreams. You can avoid all the headache by choosing the right hardware for your deployment region from the very beginning. You can read more about the various modems which support 2G, 3G, 4G, and eSIM here.

We will keep updating this article and come up with new posts when new announcements take place regarding 2G or 3G shutdowns around the world.