Brussels, 29 January 2026
After years of raising urgent concerns with EU institutions and industry stakeholders about the risks that the shutdown of 2G and 3G networks poses to public safety, the European Emergency Number Association (EENA) today strongly recommends delaying the planned 2G/3G network switch-off until the identified emergency communications issues are fully resolved.
EENA has repeatedly warned that the transition to exclusively 4G and 5G networks can result in people being unable to reach emergency services at all, particularly due to interoperability issues between devices and network voice services. In addition to connections failing, cases have also been identified where emergency calls do connect but with degraded quality, including the inability of emergency services to call back and the absence or unreliability of critical data, such as caller location. These risks are no longer hypothetical: as the first 2G and 3G networks have already been shut down in several European countries, the issues EENA warned about are now occurring in practice. Without urgent action, more people risk being unable to reliably reach emergency services or receive an appropriate emergency response when it matters most.
EENA first raised these concerns in 2022 and has continued to engage with EU institutions, regulators and industry stakeholders since then. Despite these efforts, effective and universally implemented solutions are still lacking, while evidence from regulators and emergency services shows that these risks are already materialising as 2G and 3G networks are shut down.
EENA therefore urges policymakers, regulators, and mobile network operators to postpone further 2G and 3G shutdowns. At the same time, policymakers, regulators, mobile network operators, and phone manufacturers must work together to develop and deploy viable migration solutions, ensuring continuity of service, and long-term resilience of emergency and critical communications. EENA stands ready to contribute to this effort, drawing on its expertise and its network of public safety stakeholders across Europe.
For more information, visit our website dedicated on this issue.
For further inquiries, please contact [email protected].
Webinar: On 10 February 2026, we will have a webinar on measures Sweden’s Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) has taken to ensure reliable access to the emergency number 112, including actions that may result in certain non-compliant mobile phones being blocked from mobile networks.
