Vietnam's Ministry of Information and Communications has confirmed that 3G services in the country will be switched off by September 2028.
In an announcement yesterday, the deputy director of the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority, Nguyen Phong Nha, said the country is following the global trend of retiring legacy networks for 4G and 5G services.
The announcement follows MIC's confirmation earlier this month that it's on course for a full shutdown of 2G services on land from September 16, 2024.
However, telcos in Vietnam have a few years more to migrate their customers away from 3G services.
Viettel still has around 4 million 3G subs, while Vinaphone has 15.1 million, Mobifone 10 million, and Vietnamobile has more than 9 million.
“The joint effort to phase out old technologies like 2G and 3G with a relatively long transition period until 2028 will allow users to gradually switch to 4G," said Nha.
"This also gives telecom operators time to allocate resources, invest, and optimize their networks, transitioning their subscribers to 4G and 5G. This policy has received unanimous support from telecom operators. I hope the transition plan will be successfully implemented."
A number of countries have shut down 3G services already, notably in the US and Japan, while in the UK EE and Vodafone completed their respective shutdowns this year.
In Singapore, the country's mobile carriers are preparing to switch off 3G services from next month.
