EE outlines 3G retirement strategy
December 12, 2023
Chief Networks Officer at BT, Greg McCall, has outlined EE’s 3G retirement strategy and how it plans to ensure customers are supported during the switch off process and how customers’ mobile connectivity experiences will improve as a result of the switch off in 2024 and beyond.
EE will begin switching off of its 3G network in January 2024.
Key points from the blog include:
- EE customers only spend 2.7 per cent of their time connected to 3G, which is the lowest amount of time of any UK mobile operator.
- EE is offering a free 4G-ready mobile phone (or a discount on a pay monthly plan for those who want to choose their own handset) to any vulnerable customers who still use a 3G-only phone or data plan.
- 999 calls are not reliant on 3G being available, and EE customers are still able to call the emergency services as they do today by using its 2G network or Wi-Fi Calling.
- EE will reuse the network spectrum previously used for 3G to deliver enhanced 5G performance. Its 5G network currently covers 72 per cent of the entire UK population and will get a big boost from 3G retirement as EE aim’s to deliver a 5G ‘on demand’ connection anywhere in the UK by 2028.
“When 3G launched in the early 2000s, Tony Blair was Prime minister, Gareth Gates was topping the music charts, and the Nokia 1100 was the best-selling mobile phone. There was no iPhone, no Netflix, no Spotify, no Zoom, no WhatsApp or videocalls on the move, and no cloud gaming. 3G was built to serve a different world than the one we live in today. Couple that with the need to deliver the best mobile experiences in a more sustainable way, while reusing finite network spectrum, and the time has come to embrace a new era of mobile technology. Doing so – and doing it in the right way – will ensure our customers, the planet and the wider UK economy benefit from everything 4G and 5G have to offer,” wrote McCall.