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Mobile operator EE, which is owned by BT Group, has confirmed that it has switched off its final 3G mobile site as it shifts its network over to newer technology.
The firm said it spent much of last year “phasing out” its customer’s reliance on 3G after completing a pilot switch-off in Warrington.
Since then, it has been methodically retiring the technology across more than 18,000 mobile sites, with time dedicated to pauses in the switch-off so it could monitor the impact on customers.
EE said the closure of its 3G network is an energy-saving measure that has already saved enough electricity to charge nearly one billion smartphones, and it will continue to monitor the performance of its 2G, 4G and 5G networks to ensure its customers continue to get a reliable connection.
Rival networks have also started retiring their 3G infrastructure. Vodafone started in June last year in a bid to reallocate some 3G spectrum to 4G and 5G, while Virgin Media O2 plans to retire its network by 2025.
According to Uswitch.com, EE covers roughly 99% of the UK population with its 4G network, although speeds can vary depending on location.
Meanwhile, Vodafone’s 4G service covers over 97%, Three 91% and O2 99% – although this figure is the combined total of both its 3G and 4G masts.
For 5G, all the networks fared much worse, with Three achieving just 57.6% coverage, followed by Virgin Media O2 (54.5%), EE (52.3%) and lastly Vodafone on just 41.9%.
Despite being an older technology, 2G networks will not be retired in the near future as they can be a useful low-power fallback. They are also still used in some specific agricultural applications and for water meters and smart meters.
Even during the early roll-out of 5G networks in 2019, many rural areas were still lacking 4G coverage some seven years after it was first introduced.
Mobile operators have since signed a £1bn deal to expand rural mobile network coverage by sharing their infrastructure amongst themselves.
