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Europe is switching off 2G and 3G fastest. Check your phone before you travel.
A new GSA count puts 43% of the world's 313 network switch-offs in Europe. Data on 4G and 5G carries on; calls are where older phones get caught out.
Europe accounts for 43% of the 313 2G and 3G switch-offs the GSA has counted worldwide. For a traveller the risk is calls, not data: a phone that cannot call over 4G has nothing to fall back on.
The figures come from the Global mobile Suppliers Association, published on 11 August. By June 2026 it tracked switch-offs completed, planned or under way in 89 countries and territories. 139 operators in 70 markets have finished or scheduled a 2G shutdown, and 174 operators in 67 markets have started on 3G. Asia follows Europe with 26% of cases.
Some of it is already done. Iceland closed both networks on 1 June 2026, the first European country to do so. Iceland Review reported in June that some older or foreign-bought phones could still make ordinary calls there but could not reach 112, and that visitors were the group most at risk. In France, Orange plans to retire 2G by the end of 2026.
What it means in practice: mobile data is untouched, because it runs on 4G and 5G. Calls are different. A phone that only places voice calls over 2G or 3G loses them where those networks close, so look for a VoLTE or 4G calling setting on your phone, and ask your home operator whether it supports 4G calling in the countries you visit.
A SimFuse eSIM carries data only, so a switch-off changes nothing about how it works. Your home SIM stays in the phone for calls and WhatsApp, and that is the line the 4G calling check is for.
Europe accounts for 43% of the 313 2G and 3G switch-offs completed, planned or under way worldwide (GSA, August 2026).
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