(Yicai) Dec. 6 – China’s carriers can only remove second- and third-generation wireless networks as they upgrade their mobile communication networks if the rights and interests of senior citizens and other loyal users of these frequencies are not jeopardized, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said recently.

Carriers must give advance notice of the withdrawal of 2G and 3G services and help users to upgrade, the MMIT said recently on the Internet.

Old people are the main users of 2G and 3G networks, according to a report by ChinaIRN. Senior citizens buy around 60 million smartphones a year, but only 10 percent of these are 4G or 5G.

Many middle-aged and elderly people are reluctant to upgrade their mobile phones, and there are some groups of people who only use 2G devices, said Liao Yunfa, president of the East China Branch of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

But maintaining these networks is expensive. There is not much 2G and 3G equipment being produced any more, so the cost to replace and maintain gear is high, Liao said. Few devices use 2G and 3G so it is a waste of frequency wavelengths. Also, security at these stations is low and this requires added investment.

Hardly any new 2G and 3G base stations are being built these days, an employee at ZTE told Yicai yesterday.  

Datang Telecom Technology, Fiberhome Telecommunication Technologies and Beijing Trust & Far Technology have hardly any products that use 2G and 3G, so withdrawing the two wireless networks will not affect its operations.

But 2G and 3G base stations still have their uses. 2G and 3G networks have better penetration and wider coverage than 4G and 5G and so many base stations in remote areas have not yet been upgraded, the ZTE staff member said.

Editor: Kim Taylor