Research pick: 2G or not 2G? That is the question! - "Why do they stay with 2G mobile communications services in the 5G era?"

There is a pressing need in the world of communications technology to nudge users of older systems towards the state-of-the-art. However, educational level, finance, and wariness, often associated with being older, often preclude upgrades for many users. For instance, the current high-end smartphones utilise the fifth generation networks, 5G, having transitioned from the simple voice and “text” system of 2G to faster feature phones and smartphones on 3G and 4G. There remain millions of users around the world who rely on their simple, cheap, and effective 2G phones.

The problem for the industry is that the network bandwidth used by the 2G networks could be released to the higher-end networks if there were no active 2G users reliant on it. Indeed, in some parts of the world, the 2G networks have already been switched off by the service providers to free up electromagnetic spectrum. This release bandwidth allows for richer, more information-dense transactions in modern systems. Moreover, some providers are hinting at the disabling of even the 3G networks in their regions, which would force phone almost all users in those regions to switch from low-end feature phones to fully-fledged smartphones.

Older users, reluctant to swap their simple and inexpensive devices for higher-end devices are perhaps not given much credit for their savvy, but the higher-end devices inevitably cost more and come with an expensive service contract as well as greater complexity that older users may not wish to learn to use or simply do not feel they need. If those in poverty are also taken into account, then the need remains for the old 2G networks.

Writing in the International Journal of Mobile Communications, a team from South Korea has looked at the various factors influencing users whom they describe as “laggards” and why they remain hooked to the 2G system. While the existence of 2G users may be an annoyance to the industry, the needs of those laggards must be considered. There seem to be few perceived benefits to upgrading from 2G to a more modern network for so many older, impoverished, or simply reluctant. Greater costs, massively reduced battery life, and much greater complexity must be offset for users who are uninterested in the features of a smartphone such as web searching, social media, apps, and photos, for instance. The converse, however, is that with improved education, cost discounts, and other incentives, policymakers might persuade the laggards of the greater benefits of smartphone use recognised by many others. This could help with efforts to close the digital divide between demographics.

The industry and policymakers will ultimately call an end to the 2G system at which point the laggards will either be entirely disenfranchised or forced to upgrade whether they like it or not…assuming they can afford to do so, of course.

Kim, D. and Kim, S. (2022) ‘Why do they stay with 2G mobile communications services in the 5G era?’, Int. J. Mobile Communications, Vol. 20, No. 6, pp.659–679.