The US operator plans to shut down the 2G network in 2017 and upgrade it to 4G network.

According to foreign media reports, the company plans to shut down its 2G network in 2017 due to the impact of AT&T Mobility's redistribution of 2G network spectrum and deployment of more advanced services.

The US telecom operator is now re-deploying its 1900 MHz PCS spectrum in New York City to switch Global Mobile Communication System services to HSPA + and LTE services. The company disclosed in a file submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last Friday about the time when the 2G network was closed.

"Our process is consistent with the previous network upgrade, we will migrate market-based users from global mobile communication systems and enhanced global data development rates to more advanced services ). We expect that all 2G services will be stopped before January 1, January 1, 2017. During this upgrade over several years, we will actively communicate with our users to manage the upgrade process to 3G and 4G devices, which will help minimize the loss of users ."

As of June 30, 12% of AT&T post-paid users use 2G devices, which is likely to decrease year by year in the next few years. AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel MarkSiegel did not disclose how many users will be migrated to the new network.

AT&T said: "We hope this transition will not have a major impact on the company's operating performance, however, the impact of migrating users from 2G devices to 3G devices or 4G devices on financial conditions will continue to be evaluated."

AT&T's move to shut down its traditional 2G network is to keep up with the pace at which other operators replace the original network with a more advanced service network. For example, SprintNextel will shut down its 2GiDEN network in mid-December and plans to re-allocate the MHz matching to CDMA voice and LTE services. In addition, an important part of the T-Mobile U.S. company's network modernization plan is to use part of the 1900 MHz PCS spectrum for HSPA + services. As a result, the company can use all 1700 MHz AWS spectrum for LTE services. However, T-Mobile said that the company will continue to provide 2G services to existing users, many of which are M2M users.

By disabling the 2G service, AT&T will be able to provide spectrum for additional network capacity. This issue is particularly prominent when AT&T recently announced a $0.6 billion acquisition of NextWaveWireless and its 2.3GHzWCS spectrum transactions.