Today, AT&T is shutting down its 3G Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS) network so that it can repurpose more of its licensed spectrum to 5G. AT&T's 3G-to-5G transition is an important milestone, as AT&T is the first nationwide wireless provider to entirely close down its legacy 3G network. Plans to close down the 3G UMTS network were publicly announced by AT&T in February 2019, and it was recently reported that data traffic on the legacy network dwindled to less than 1% of AT&T's overall network traffic. Overwhelmingly most services that were previously using 3G services heeded the three years advance notice and have moved to 4G LTE or 5G network services. And some services have secured other means to enable their 3G devices to connect to next-generations networks.
Despite receiving ample advance notice regarding AT&T's 3G network sunset, the alarm industry has sought government intervention to delay it. However, the FCC has declined to step in. The Commission's refusal to intervene is likely because the agency lacks any legal authority to stall the 3G-to-5G transition. Additionally, any government-imposed delay would inhibit the ability of AT&T to optimize their 5G networks, offer consumers faster and more capacious services, and more effectively compete in the wireless market.
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