According to DCD, New Zealand’s 2degrees will begin shutting down its 3G network on December 14, starting with 100 rural cell towers that have already been upgraded to 4G. The company’s CEO, Mark Callander, stated the impact should be minimal as 3G usage on those sites is small. 2degrees, which launched its 3G service in 2010, aims for a complete shutdown by “early 2026.” Simultaneously, rival One NZ revealed its own plan to start a phased 3G shutdown on January 20, 2026, in Dunedin, culminating in a full retirement by March 31, 2026. Spark NZ has also aligned its final shutdown date for March 31, 2026. All three major carriers are now coordinated on a final sunset date around early 2026.
The great spectrum reclamation
Here’s the thing about these shutdowns: it’s not really about the towers. It’s about the airwaves. 3G uses valuable radio spectrum that could be far more efficiently used for 4G and 5G services. By turning off these legacy networks, carriers can refarm that spectrum to bolster capacity and coverage for modern standards. Think of it like finally clearing out an old, inefficient warehouse to expand a modern, automated logistics center. The timing makes sense, too. With 5G rollouts well underway, the business case for maintaining a separate, aging network just collapses. The maintenance costs alone probably don’t justify the tiny fraction of users still clinging to 3G-only devices.
A surprisingly orderly retirement
What’s interesting here is the relative coordination. All three major players have essentially settled on the same final deadline of early 2026. That’s pretty unusual in telecom, where competitors often try to one-up each other on network longevity. But this synchronized sunset actually benefits everyone. It gives a clear, unified message to customers and device manufacturers. It also prevents one carrier from being painted as the “bad guy” for shutting down service first. They’ve all given a long runway—2degrees announced this over two years ago—and are now in the final stretch. The message from Callander is blunt: “The time to take action is now.” If you’ve got an old 3G-only device, like a dedicated GPS unit, a backup phone, or some older industrial monitoring equipment, you’re officially on borrowed time.
What gets left behind
So who’s affected? The risk isn’t really for smartphone users in cities. Most phones have been 4G-capable for a decade. The impact falls on two main groups: people in extremely remote areas where 4G upgrades might have lagged, and the Internet of Things. And I’m not talking about smart lightbulbs. I mean legacy M2M (machine-to-machine) connections—things like older security alarms, agricultural sensors, or vehicle tracking systems installed years ago. For industries relying on this older tech, the switch-off is a forced, and probably expensive, upgrade cycle. It’s a stark reminder that in tech, infrastructure has a finite lifespan. You can’t just “set and forget” a connected device anymore. The ground is always shifting underneath it.
The 5G payoff
Ultimately, this is all a prerequisite for the 5G future we keep hearing about. True, widespread 5G needs every bit of spectrum and network efficiency it can get. Shutting down 3G isn’t just a cost-saving measure; it’s an enabling one. It frees up engineering resources and capital to pour into the next generation. The question is, will customers actually notice the difference? For most, probably not in a day-to-day sense. But the improved capacity and eventual new services on 4G and 5G networks will be, in part, powered by this quiet retirement of a technology that had its heyday nearly 15 years ago. Not a bad run, all things considered.
