Econet Wireless Zimbabwe has announced plans to switch off its 3G network by the end of December 2027, followed by a phased retirement of 2G as the company accelerates investment in faster 4G and 5G  technologies. The country’s largest mobile network operator said retiring the older technologies would  improve service quality, free up valuable spectrum and align its network with global trends. “Our plan is to shut down 3G first, by the end of December 2027,” said Econet Chief Executive Officer Dr Douglas Mboweni. “Only a small proportion of our customers remain on 3G, as most are now using 4G and 5G. We are encouraging those still on the older technology to migrate to the higher-speed
technologies.”

Although 3G supports voice calls and basic internet services, it is increasingly inadequate for dataintensive applications such as video streaming, cloud services and artificial intelligence tools. He said Econet will allow more time before retiring its 2G network because the technology remains widely used in rural areas, where some subscribers still rely on basic feature phones.

“We must give rural customers more time to replace their phones while supporting them with affordable handsets and flexible payment terms,” Dr Mboweni said. “We will first upgrade network coverage and then help customers in rural communities migrate to 4G as the minimum standard. That work is already underway.” The company said maintaining several generations of mobile technology simultaneously placed pressure on spectrum allocation. Spectrum is a limited resource used by mobile operators to transmit voice and data services. Reallocating the spectrum currently used by 2G and 3G will enable Econet to expand its 4G and 5G capacity, improve data speeds and strengthen overall network
performance. Econet has already ordered much of the equipment required for the upgrade as it steps up its 4G and 5G infrastructure expansion across the country. It is also developing an independent power system to improve network resilience amid persistent electricity supply challenges.

Dr Mboweni said the wider network modernisation programme is expected to require annual investment running into hundreds of millions of dollars. “As part of the transition, we are urging independent handset suppliers to stop selling new devices limited to 2G and 3G only, and instead focus on 4G and 5Gcompatible models,” he said. He added that the company was also intensifying efforts to identify so-called grey handsets – devices marketed as smartphones but which do not meet the advertised technical specifications and often create connectivity problems for users. Econet has developed a system to detect such devices when they attempt to connect to its network. Customers will be alerted when affected
handsets are identified, while relevant authorities will also be notified to help curb the practice.

Econet’s planned retirement of 3G is part of a global transition towards newer mobile technologies, with operators increasingly repurposing spectrum and network resources for faster and more advanced 4G and 5G services while seeking to minimise disruption to customers.

In Africa, Rwanda has set June 30, 2027, as the date for its nationwide 3G switch-off, while South Africa
has established a December 31, 2027, deadline for the transition.

Several European countries moved earlier. Germany and the Czech Republic completed their 3G shutdowns in 2021, while the United Kingdom phased out the technology by early 2025 and is preparing to retire 2G between 2029 and 2033. Only this week, Ukrainian telecommunications operator Kyivstar
announced that it had completed the migration of more than one million subscribers from 3G to 4G, freeing additional spectrum capacity for the expansion of its 4G network

Econet Wireless and its subsidiaries, including EcoCash and Econet InfraCo, have moved their operations fully onto Google Cloud – becoming the first major businesses in Zimbabwe to complete such a comprehensive cloud migration.The project, which took almost a year to complete, represents a significant technology milestone for Zimbabwe and the wider African market.

The migration is expected to give Econet substantial competitive advantages, including stronger business continuity and the ability to recover rapidly from major disruptions or disasters. It will also help reduce service-delivery challenges, improve network resilience and enable the company to introduce new products and features much faster.“This is the first major step in a multi-pronged strategy aimed at significantly improving our services for customers,” said Dr Douglas Mboweni, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe’s Group CEO.
“We are excited about our partnership with Google Cloud because of their extensive experience supporting businesses around the world.”

Dr Mboweni said customers would begin to experience the full benefits of the migration over the coming months, as Econet transfers its data to the new environment and finetunes the platform’s performance.

Econet also intends to expand the Google Cloud platform to provide cloud services to other large businesses and organisations in Zimbabwe.

“The advantages offered by the cloud are not limited to mobile operators,” Dr Mboweni said. “Large companies and governments around the world are moving their digital operations to the cloud.

“We recognise that many organisations in Zimbabwe do not have the dozens of specialist engineers required to operate a private cloud. Econet can manage that infrastructure on their behalf and provide it as a service. We have the necessary capabilities, including data centres and access to AI (artificial-intelligence) infrastructure.”

The development positions Econet to strengthen its own digital operations while supporting the wider adoption of cloud computing and AI-powered services across Zimbabwe.