The end of the wave is coming soon and there is a circular banning the import of 2G phones into Vietnam, but 2G phones are still imported under quota. The Ministry of Information and Communications said that it will issue an official letter requesting the operator to detect and block the operation of new 2G phones in the near future, active subscribers will not be affected.
According to statistics of the Department, Vietnam currently has 22 million subscribers still using terminals with only 2G connection.
According to a representative of a network operator, it is technically possible to detect and block new devices from joining the network using 2G. However, it is necessary to parallel popularize 4G phones, including cheap “brick” phones.
As expected, 2G wave in Vietnam will be turned off in September 2024. At that time, devices that only work on 2G networks will not be able to use them. The Ministry of Information and Communications aims to reduce the number of 2G subscribers to less than 5% by the end of 2023.
From July 2021, phones using only 2G and 3G are prohibited from being imported into Vietnam, terrestrial mobile communication terminals, all mobile phones manufactured in the country or imported into Vietnam must integrate E-UTRA (4G) technology.
Telecommunications enterprises in Vietnam such as VNP, Viettel… are also converting 2G and 3G subscribers to 4G. The reason to turn off 2G and 3G waves is to help free up resources for new standards, 4G, 5G. According to carriers, the cost of maintaining old networks (3G, 2G) is more expensive than the cost of upgrading 4G and 5G networks.