Reliance Jio wants the government to phase out 2G and 3G services: here’s why

The move can be seen as a way to promote migration of the country's 4G and 5G networks. We are in times of 5G as both Airtel and Reliance-backed Jio are quickly expanding the nationwide network. Vodafone Idea is also expected to follow suit shortly.

Reliance Jio seeks phasing out of 2G/3G networks

• Reliance Jio has urged the government of India to phase out 2G and 3G services across the country.
• This move will help the existing 2G/3G customers in India move towards the latest network support and also free up resources and expenses for maintenance. 
• Airtel and Jio are already actively rolling out 5G networks across the country and will soon start charging users a premium for 5G plans.

• Currently, 5G is being offered for free under the beta trial.
• Besides Airtel and Jio, Vi will soon launch its 5G network in the country and will be rolled out in a phased manner
• Then there is the government-backed BSNL which will complete the adoption of the 4G network soon and then move on to the 5G network.

"The Government should come out with a policy and glide path for closing down the 2G and 3G networks completely so that unnecessary network costs should be avoided, and all customers can be migrated to 4G and 5G services. This will also give great impetus to developing an ecosystem for 5G use cases. There is no doubt that the 5G services, its ecosystem and use cases will play the most crucial role in driving digital transformation across various industries by providing faster and more reliable connectivity," Jio noted.

As said, discontinuing 2G and 3G networks will open up resources for telecom networks and also encourage the adoption of 5G, which is the latest network. Jio will focus on other sectors like IoT, Industry 4.0, smart cities, automation, and AI-driven factories.

Vi noted that the penetration of 5G in the low-income groups is a big challenge owing to the abundance of 2G/3G-enabled phones in the country and the high prices of 5G phones. The telecom operator mentioned that the government should start offering subsidies for people to migrate to 5G-enabled phones from feature phones.