In reply to a post by bsg017:

But is there not talk of 2G ending about the same tme.

3G is going to be phased out soon'ish, reusing that spectrum for 4G or 5G.

I can't see 2G going any time soon. It's necessary for wider coverage for Voice calls.

Currently I believe the networks have until 2033 to sunset 2G and 3G but as I said 3G will go 1st.

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

3G is going to be phased out soon'ish, reusing that spectrum for 4G or 5G.

over 50% of it has already on most networks, reducing the old Dual Carrier HSPA (DC-HSPA) upto 42Mbps down to 24Mbps single carrier, with the remaining used for LTE.

I can't see 2G going any time soon. It's necessary for wider coverage for Voice calls.

There shouldn't be a reason why the technology provides wider coverage, if LTE is on the same frequency and the user device is modern enough (e.g. a £30 Nokia from Argos) then 4G VoLTE should be equal. The only reason this appears to be the case is the number of legacy cell sites left that are 2G only on some networks.

Currently I believe the networks have until 2033 to sunset 2G and 3G but as I said 3G will go 1st.

I think thats the agreement with Ofcom/Government, but I agree we will see 3G disappear much sooner, probably before 2023.

2G capacity has been significantly reduced in the last few years on many networks, as 4G can handle more voice calls per Mhz of spectrum.