After several years of service to millions of Filipino mobile users, PLDT is finally looking to end its 3G service sometime next year.

PLDT Chief Finance Officer Anabelle Chua, during a press briefing in Makati, announces the imminent shut-down of the 3G service as the company seemingly plans to “sunset” it, citing that “less than 5% of devices use 3G.”

In business terms, the expected closing would imply a space where the network service provider could enable the “optimization” of the network.

Meanwhile, PLDT Network Exec Mario Tamayo unveils the expected window when the service termination would take place “next year.”

Complementing Chua’s earlier statement regarding the maximization of the company’s resources to boost the quality of service, Tamayo adds that, by doing so, the company will “maximize the frequencies with other technologies that we use”.

Corroborating to the announcement is also PLDT-Smart President and CEO Alfredo Panlilio who claims that the market is already ready to move on from 3G as only 4 percent uses it.

While the top exec suggests that the “jump to 4G is easier,” there is a greater challenge to force 2G users to pivot to 4G.

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