State-owned full-service provider Tunisie Telecom (TT) is planning to shut down its 3G network to increase its focus on its 4G system, Tunisie Haut Debit reports. TT Director of Planning and Radio Engineering Sihem Tajouri explained the company’s plans at a seminar this week, telling press that, as 3G users are ‘rapidly migrating to 4G’ and that 3G traffic is decreasing, TT will refarm its 3G spectrum for 4G. In addition, the official said that TT would launch VoLTE soon ‘in order to transfer voice traffic from 3G to 4G’. TT has no immediate plans to sunset its 2G network, however, as the system is still widely used by a large number of devices. No timeline was given for the closure of its 3G network, however.
According to data from sector watchdog the National Telecommunications Authority (Instance Nationale des Telecommunications, INT), 84% of smartphones in use in Q4 2021 were 4G-compatible – compared to 13% for 3G – and nearly 60% of all terminals supported 4G technology, compared to 12% for 3G, 17% for 2G and 13% that were not identified.