BEREC report on 2G/3G phaseout practics and challenges

The Report sets out a high-level analysis of some of the main issues faced by different stakeholders or groups of stakeholders in 2G / 3G phase-out, with a focus on the potential impacts on end-users and an overall stakeholder analysis.  The topic of 2G/3G phase-out involves many stakeholders from many different domains; users (including vulnerable users and roamers), networks operators (including virtual operators), vendors, device and other manufacturers, competent national or European authorities, and standardization bodies. Sharing experiences, lessons learned, and common approaches will have positive effects on successfully phasing out 2G and 3G generations of mobile technologies in markets, while maximizing service continuity of high impact services that are currently still provided (partly) using 2G and 3G technology.

The report is divided into 5 five chapters:

•           Chapter 1 sets out some background information and gives an overview of challenges and opportunities arising from 2G/3G phase-out, and examples of related practices in several countries;

•           Chapter 2 briefly highlights impacts and provides some insights into what some NRAs consider to be the main impacts from 2G/3G phase-out;

•           Chapter 3 is a high-level stakeholder analysis that emphasizes different stakeholder engagement attributes and aims to help in advancing the conversation about 2G/3G phase-out;

•           Chapter 4 is BEREC’s preliminary view setting out the importance of stakeholder engagement;

•           Annex A sets out the results of a questionnaire issued to BEREC Members and summarizes some of the material gathered by the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG) when it considered the topic.