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KUALA LUMPUR, August 30 – As announced by the Prime Minister yesterday, Malaysia is aiming to shut down 3G networks by the end of 2021. This is part of the Jendela plan which aims to upgrade Malaysia’s digital communications infrastructure in preparation for 5G.
So what does this all mean? What would happen to older devices when 3G networks are phased out? This is what you need to know.
Why do we have to turn off 3G?
According to Muhyiddin, the plan to shut down 3G networks in stages is to upgrade 4G networks, which will serve as a solid foundation for 5G. Older technologies are often inefficient and do not provide the speed and capacity of newer technologies.
Spectrum is a finite resource and optimization is vital to support our future connectivity needs. A good example is the recent switch from analog to digital television. The move helps free up the 700 MHz spectrum that can be used for 5G wireless connectivity.
In addition to providing better picture quality, digital television also offers more efficient use of spectrum. The spectrum required for 1 analog television channel can be used to broadcast 10 television channels in digital format.
Do you use 2100MHz for 4G?
In Malaysia, most telecommunications companies currently use the 900MHz and 2100MHz bands for 3G. The lower 900MHz band was first introduced for early GSM 2G networks and has been repurposed by various telcos for 3G and 4G use. Although it has less capacity compared to the higher frequency bands, the 900MHz spectrum is still sought after, as it provides wider coverage and penetrates walls better.
As shown in the spectrum chart above, there is a significant portion of the 2100MHz spectrum that is allocated to telcos for 3G. With the closure of 3G, the 2100MHz spectrum could potentially be used to improve 4G coverage and capacity.
So what about 2G?
When the announcement was made yesterday, 2G was not mentioned. If we compare it with other countries in the region, such as Australia, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan, most of them began to make the transition closing first 2G and then 3G. Australia is aiming to completely shut down 3G by 2024, while Singapore is targeting after 2025.
Although it seems logical to shut down 2G first, it is not common for 3G networks to be phased out earlier than 2G. Malaysia appears to be following the European approach as several operators, including Vodafone, have started to shut down 3G while retaining their 2G networks.
The decision to keep 2G in Europe is due to a significant number of applications that rely on 2G, such as M2M and other connected devices. This could include payment terminals, security systems and other early GSM-based solutions. By keeping 2G, it would give businesses and industries more time to switch to new LTE-M and NB-IoT based applications.
Keeping 2G would also ensure that feature phone users are not left out. Although there are more smartphone users these days, there are still a significant number of users using feature phones for basic voice calls and SMS.
According to the latest MCMC handset survey released in 2019, 25.9 percent of Malaysians still use feature phones. More than half of the people in the age group 50 and over have yet to switch to smartphones.
According to the survey, 76.2 percent of feature phone users are reluctant to switch. The main reason not to change is that your feature phone meets your needs, followed by the cost of smartphones.
Note that the survey was conducted with 2,401 people in 2018 and there could be a significant shift to smartphones in the last year due to the adoption of eWallet.
4G coverage must expand rapidly
With the goal of shutting down 3G by the end of 2021, this leaves telcos just over a year to rapidly expand their 4G network to fill the coverage gap. In Phase 1 of the JENDELA plan, the government aims to increase 4G coverage from 91.8% to 96.9% in populated areas. For the second phase, the government aims to build more than 400 new towers in eastern Malaysia and upgrade about 2,000 transmitters on existing towers.
The transition would also depend on the subscriber base of the respective telecommunications company. There are still subscribers that rely on 3G for data connectivity and this includes Veveonah from Pitas, Sabah, who had to climb a tree to get good mobile reception.
As highlighted in Opensignal’s report, Malays in sparsely populated areas can hardly get 4G connectivity. In areas with less than 100 people per square kilometer, 4G availability is less than 75 percent. Even if you factor 3G and 4G together, less populated areas with less than 10 people per square kilometer are only covered 72.9 percent of the time.
Increase adoption of VoLTE
Malaysia’s major telcos still depend on 3G for voice call services. Celcom and Maxis, which are the first two telcos to roll out 4G, do not yet offer VoLTE extensively. Maxis says its goal is to offer VoLTE this year, while Celcom currently offers VoLTE on select iPhone models.
The least affected would be Yes 4G, as YTL Communications operates a pure IP-based 4G network from day one. They were the first to offer VoLTE in Malaysia in 2016. U Mobile, Digi and Unifi Mobile also offer VoLTE on 4G.
It is also worth noting that not all 4G phones are VoLTE ready and this situation could lead to some confusion among consumers. Once 3G is switched off, a device without VoLTE would have to turn to 2G just to make phone calls, and this would greatly affect data connectivity.
Malaysia needs a clear transition plan
The move to shut down 3G in Malaysia by the end of 2021 is ambitious, but there must be a clear transition plan. For starters, both consumers and businesses need to know which devices are compatible.
As in Singapore, Malaysia could impose a ban on the sale of unsupported devices. This would ensure that all new phones sold can still work beyond 2021. This is necessary as some manufacturers are still introducing 2G phones in 2020.
For those who still refuse to switch to smartphones, there are also 4G feature phones with VoLTE, such as the Nokia 2720 Flip, Nokia 3310 4G and Nokia 8110 4G. Each telco would know how many subscribers are not on 4G yet and can make an effort to migrate them.
In terms of network, telecommunications companies must have clear objectives to increase their 4G coverage. Even today, there are still urban areas, especially indoors, that have poor or no 4G signal that needs to be addressed. A similar goal should also be given to telcos to enable VoLTE, which will improve the overall quality of voice calls across the country. Telecommunications companies could work together to share networks to avoid duplication, speed implementation, and reduce costs. – SoyaCincau
