In November last year, as Vietnam Telecom permanently shut down the 2G network, Nguyen Thi Que's mobile phone suddenly became unusable. The 73-year-old sells iced tea at a bus stop in Hanoi. Vietnam's plan is simple: provide free 4G feature phones to help low-income 2G consumers adapt to this change.

This strategy has paid off, and the number of 2G users has dropped from more than 18 million in January 2024 to 143,000 in November of the same year. China is also on the list of a growing number of countries and regions that have stopped using 2G technology, including Australia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates, Brunei, Switzerland, Costa Rica and Jamaica.According to data from telecommunications industry organization GSMA Intelligence, as many as 61 countries, from the United States and Brazil to South Africa, India and China, have planned or initiated the process of shutting down 2G networks. The purpose of this is to increase 4G and 5G bandwidth by repurposing existing 2G spectrum, thereby reducing maintenance costs, promoting user growth and increasing revenue. This has raised concerns about wider digital exclusion mainly affecting the poor, complicating the decision to shut down 2G.Hundreds of millions of people around the world still rely on 2G mobile phones. Basic mobile phones remain relevant in the smartphone era due to factors such as low prices, lack of digital skills and poor connectivity."If we think about countries like Vietnam, Pakistan, India, they want to attract investment into their countries, having high-quality (4G, 5G) networks is very, very important for them," said Jeanette Whyte, director of public policy for the GSMA Asia-Pacific region. "But to develop towards 5G, we need spectrum, and spectrum is in short supply and is a scarce resource."According to research firm Counterpoint, as the 2G era is about to pass, global feature phone sales have dropped from 374 million units in 2019 to 200 million units in 2024, although telecom companies in countries such as India and South Africa are still investing in low-cost 4G feature phones to cater to the market needs of the vast low-income population.A survey by the Alliance for Affordable Internet found that in 2021, for 2.5 billion people around the world, especially in Asia and Africa, buying the cheapest smartphone will consume 30% of their monthly income.Mike Jensen, an Internet access expert at the Association for Progressive Communications, said that while global telecoms regulators have agreed to abandon 2G, many have not set a timetable because they worry about creating digital inequality and interfering with technology equipment such as pollution data sensors and power monitoring equipment."I think this is probably something that civil society and other organizations that focus on the poorest people and inequality are not really aware of and aren't discussing in the public sphere," Jensen said.In June 2022, South Africa set goals to phase out 2G and 3G by June 30, 2024, and March 30, 2025 respectively. Those deadlines were eventually lifted as the outage threatened to knock out some 20 million people.Smartphone users, including ride-hailing drivers, often keep a 2G phone as a backup because of the frequent robberies, he said, adding that feature phones "will not be a target for thieves."In South Africa, however, government-owned telecommunications company Telkom stopped 2G services in most places because 2G only accounts for 1% of its network traffic. Africa's leading wireless operators MTN and Vodacom have prioritized shutting down 3G networks over 2G because 3G takes up more spectrum.However, the GSMA's Whyte believes telecom operators cannot do this alone. "This is a shared responsibility between government and industry and will require widespread advocacy, digital skills training and financial support programmes," she said.In Vietnam, the government is promoting the effort through state-owned Viettel, the country's largest telecommunications company, which not only hangs out cheap smartphones but also sends employees to remote villages to persuade the public to upgrade to free 4G feature phones. The company offered discounted data plans nationwide months before the 2G shutdown.Vietnam Telecom spent 300 billion dong ($12.2 million) to provide free 4G mobile phones to its 700,000 2G users. Its competitor Mobifone offers similar packages for its 2G user base.Que, an ice tea seller in Hanoi, said a Viettel staff member personally delivered her a new feature phone within a month of the 2G shutdown, despite her initial hiccups registering it.Counterpoint analyst Shubham Nimkar told Rest of World that Vietnam's success can be attributed to the popularity of 4G feature phones, which "helps bridge the gap between adoption of new 4G technology and use of familiar feature phone type devices".Reliance Jio, India's largest telecom service provider, has been pursuing a similar strategy for years to attract the country's 250 million 2G subscribers from other networks. Like South Africa, the Indian government has not set a deadline for shutting down 2G.In 2017, Reliance launched the "virtually free" JioPhone - a 4G feature phone with internet-enabled options such as video, music streaming and payment apps. JioPhone ranked first in the global feature phone market within 10 months of its launch, with 18.2 million devices sold. Reliance's recently launched JioBharat phone is priced at just 1,099 rupees ($12.70). According to TechCrunch, Jio plans to launch a 5G feature phone next, recreating the success of the JioPhone."RelianceJio's push to completely phase out 2G is primarily driven by its commercial interests, as its entire network infrastructure is based on 4G and 5G," Osama Manzar, founder and director of Delhi-based nonprofit Digital Empowerment Foundation, told Rest of World. "However, if this approach is implemented too early, it could lead to greater digital exclusion as millions of people are not ready for this transition."Counterpoint senior analyst Shilpi Jain said that in India, of the 55 million to 60 million feature phone shipments in 2024, 2G phones will still account for 73%, while 4G devices will account for the remainder.Feature phone sales have also been hampered by stubborn patriarchal attitudes in countries such as India and Pakistan, where many women are forced to use basic phones out of fear that smartphones will make people over-informed or influenced by men. "Abandoning 2G without gender-sensitive policies could exacerbate the gender digital divide," Manzar said.As competition in the market heats up, Taiwanese company CloudMosa has developed a cloud phone - a technology that allows 4G feature phones to access news and run popular apps such as TikTok, Facebook and YouTube. The technology was first piloted in India in late 2023 in partnership with Android phone maker HMD, followed by a similar partnership with Vietnam's Viettel in August last year.CloudMosa founder and CEO Shioupyn Shen said that by the end of 2024, there will be more than 1 million devices supporting cloud phones in the global market. He said the company's goal is to increase the number of devices to 200 million within two years - and it is in talks with telecoms companies and manufacturers to launch more devices in countries such as South Africa, Kenya, Thailand, Bangladesh and Pakistan.Back in Hanoi, Que was happy to have a working feature phone, but admitted she didn't know if she could use it to access the Internet. "I don't know anything, I just know how to make a phone call."A few minutes later, a customer offered to pay for Que's lemonade via a QR code, but Que didn't have a QR code.Text/restofworld