2degrees confirms end of 2G network
2degrees is shutting off the 2G network that serves some of its older-style phones.
Customers have until March next year before their phones become unusable.
2G technology has since been superseded by 3G and 4G technologies, which smartphones run on.
2degrees chief executive Stewart Sherriff says that while 2G was a dated technology, the company was mindful there were still some customers with 2G-only phones and devices.
‘‘While our 2G customers make up a small and declining percentage of our overall customer base there are still a few 2G devices out there, some in gloveboxes as barely used back-up phones.
‘‘While we are making this change to better serve the majority of our customer’s needs, we are also committed to helping 2G customer’s upgrade.’’
2degrees has not sold 2G mobile phones since 2015.
Sherriff said the company had worked to encourage 2G customers to move to 3G and 4G phones for the past year.
2G customers will now have six months to upgrade.
‘‘We think six months is enough time for people to make the change without forgetting that they need to, we will be contacting 2G customers multiple times to help them upgrade their devices.’’
The closure will also impact ‘‘machine-to-machine devices’’ such as some payment terminals and GPS devices, but the company will work directly with its machine-to-machine customers, some of whom already have upgrades in place.
‘‘Our focus over the next few weeks will be communicating with customers about the change and making it easy for them to upgrade devices and phones.’’
2degrees has set up a webpage where customers can check if their mobile phone is a 2G handset and review their upgrade.
Craig Young, of the Telecommunications Users Association, said it would mean some people with older-style phones could not use their devices at all any more. There could be a number of customers who had back-up phones, or phones they did not use often, that were still on the older network.
A spokeswoman said she would not provide specific customer or handset numbers, for commercial reasons.
‘‘We can say that 2G customers represent a small and declining proportion of our overall customer base. All of our mobile towers with 2G also currently have 3G.’’
Consumer NZ tech writer Hadyn Green said there would be parts of the country that only had 2G coverage available.
But he said, for 2degrees, it might cost more to service those customers than it did to lose their business.
Vodafone has been approached for comment on its plans for its 2G network.