At the beginning of this week, Telia closed its 3G network in Läänemaa, which also means that Läänemaa became the county with the most modern Telia mobile network in Estonia.
According to Telia’s chief technology officer Andre Visse, the closing of Telia’s 3G network in Läänemaa took place on Monday of this week, i.e. March 13. “Now we can say that Läänemaa can currently use Telia’s most modern mobile service, where the main focus is on the use of the latest 4G and 5G technologies. Alongside them, Telia’s 2G network will also continue to function,” said Visse.
Läänemaa also became the first county where Telia closed its 3G network. “We decided to close the 3G network first in Lääne County, because there the rate of users of our older networks (2G and 3G) is one of the smallest compared to the counties, and the majority of customers use mobile communication services in the 4G network. This means that most of the people in Lääne County already have a phone with VoLTE support that can be used to make calls in the 4G network,” said Visse.
According to Telia’s chief technology officer, the closure of the 3G network in the county went smoothly, and customers were sympathetic to it. The company now plans to apply the experience gained from Läänemaa to other counties as well.
The next counties where Telia will close the 3G network are Rapla and Pärnumaa. There, the company will gradually shut down the 3G network at the end of March, and 3G should finally be turned off in these counties by the middle of April.
Telia reminds that there are essentially no such phones that become useless after the 3G network is closed. Namely, phones that can work on both 2G and 3G networks will continue to work on Telia’s 2G network after the 3G network is closed. This means that you can still make calls, send messages and receive calls with these phones.
“With the use of mobile internet, the situation is a bit more complicated, because the 2G network does not allow to offer data communication speeds close to those of, for example, 3G. That’s why we encourage our customers who are still using 2G/3G devices today – including notebooks and tablets – to adopt newer 4G-enabled devices. This gives the customer confidence that the phone can offer both high-quality voice and data communication even after the 3G network is closed,” Visse explained.
For all customers affected by the shutdown of the 3G network, Telia’s self-service has also published detailed information on which phones should be replaced. The customer can find the corresponding information by logging in to Telia’s self-service and moving on to the selection from there Offers > Personal offers. From 2021, Telia’s own product selection includes only mobile phones with VoLTE support (both button and smartphones).
Telia’s timetable for 3G network shutdown in 2023:
- At the end of February 2023, we will start shutting down 3G in Läänemaa
- At the end of March 2023, we will start shutting down 3G in Pärnu and Raplama
- At the end of April 2023, we will start shutting down 3G in 3G Harju County
- At the end of May 2023, we will start shutting down 3G in 3G Tallinn
- At the end of September 2023, we will start shutting down 3G in Ida- and Lääne-Virumaa, Hiiu- and Saaremaa
- At the end of October 2023, we will start shutting down 3G in 3G Viljandi, Jõgeva and Järva counties
- At the end of November 2023, we will start shutting down 3G in 3G Tartu, Valga, Põlva and Võru counties