Telephone companies are preparing to turn off 3G antennas to make room for 5G connectivity.
The spread of the new super-fast 5G network in Italy will take place at the expense of the old 3G network, which will be gradually turned off making almost unusable cell phones that still use this technology. The old smartphones, in fact, will be able to connect only to the 2G network, which will remain active.
It is what reports the blog Tariffando, which has collected some rumors about it. This is not official news from the operators, but a rumor that, however, is credible for many reasons. With the 3G network (and even 3.5G, to be honest) will disappear the various technologies related to it: UMTS, HDSPA, HSPA+ and other radio transmission standards of that generation. Behind this decision there would be both economic and technical-regulatory reasons. Finally, the timing would seem to be very short: already in 2020 some telephone operators will start to switch off the 3G and 3.5G signal.
Addio 3G: the economic reasons
To keep on a transmission network is a fixed cost for telephone operators. As long as that network delivers a service to a sufficient number of users, then the game is worth the candle but, for a few years now, the 3G network has been used in many areas only as a parachute in case of 4G network problems.
If something doesn't work in the 4G repeaters and the signal fails, automatically cell phones switch to the 3G network to continue offering coverage to the customer. With the rollout of 5G, the same will happen, but with 4G: what is now the fast network will in the future become the parachute network for 5G.
Addio 3G: less emissions for everyone
There is then a second reason, probably even more important than the previous one, behind the decision to turn off 3G antennas: to leave space for electromagnetic emissions created by 5G antennas. The Italian law provides very strict limits to electromagnetic emissions from antennas for cellular communication. Limits well below those imposed in other major European markets and definitely below international guidelines.
These limits do not apply to the single antenna, but to the site that hosts all the antennas: from 2G to radio, analog and digital, through television and, soon, the new 5G connection. Most of the sites that today host antennas in Italy are saturated or almost: you can not add a new source of transmission without exceeding the limits of electromagnetic emissions. Turning off the 3G network, in this case, lowers the overall emissions of the site and, consequently, "makes room" for those of 5G.