KUALA LUMPUR: Celcom Axiata Bhd is on track to shut down its 3G network by end of this year.

Chief executive officer Idham Nawawi said following this, Celcom was reaching out to as many customers as possible to encourage the 3G-only users to migrate to 4G compatible smartphones offered under its packages.

Celcom started the initiative to sunset the network 18 months ago.

“We had 2.7 million 3G users with 3G-capable devices two years ago and at the beginning of 2020, we had 1.7 million. At end-2020, half of that or around 800,000 were on the 3G network.

“It’s still ongoing for us. There are also machine-to-machine devices which are the smart meters operated by Tenaga Nasional Bhd, Pengurusan Air Selangor and a few other corporations,” he told reporters during a virtual media briefing on Celcom’s fourth quarter 2020 results today.

Idham said a number of the 3G-only users were located in the northern and eastern regions of the country.

The government has set a target to sunset the 3G network by end-2021 as part of the National Digital Infrastructure Plan (JENDELA) that aims to upgrade Malaysia’s digital infrastructure in preparation for 5G.