Archive for September 2022
TPG have just announced that they will be shutting the TPG/Vodafone 3G network in December 2023.
They say that less than 1% of their traffic is currently on 3G while 86% is on 4G and 13.5% on 5G.
While it is many years since 2G/3G only mobiles stopped being sold there would be more 4G mobiles like the iPhone 6 which Apple stopped selling in 2016 and stopped software updates in 2019 which don’t support Voice Over LTE VoLTE. These phones will continue to provide data connection but not normal cellular voice calls once 3G closes down. There would also be an installed base of 3G only data devices currently adequately supporting low data rate services which will need to be replaced.
Telstra announced in 2019 that it would close 3G in June 2024. Optus is re-farming its 2100MHz 3G spectrum but has not announced if or when it will close 3G on 900MHz. Optus purchased the spectrum license for the 900MHz at the December 2021 auction so could keep 3G alive on this spectrum if it chose to.
Other significant Australian network technology shut downs have been.
- Telstra closed 007 PAMTS (ZeroG) in 1993
- Telstra closed AMPS (1G) in September 2000
- Telstra closed CDMA (2G/3G) in April 2008
- Telstra closed GSM/GPRS/HSPA (2G) in December 2016
- Optus closed GSM/GPRS/HSPA (2G) in August 2017
- Vodafone closed GSM/GPRS/HSPA in March 2018
- Vodafone will close WCMDA (3G) in December 2023
- Telstra will close WCDMA (3G) in June 2014