Britain will phase out its 2G and 3G services by 2033 to free radio waves for 5G and 6G services that will power technologies like driverless vehicles, drones and virtual reality. All Britain’s networks, including EE, Vodafone, O2 and Three, had agreed to the timetable, the government told.

To end 2G and 3G services will simplify new equipment makers to enter the market as they will not have to support legacy technologies. It wants to end the dependency on suppliers after China’s Huawei was banned from new networks and end the development of Open Radio Access Networks (Open RAN) technology.