Vodafone to switch off UK 3G network by end of 2023

Change will force hundreds of thousands of older people and those in rural areas to upgrade mobiles

Hundreds of thousands of predominantly older people and those living in rural areas will be forced to upgrade their mobile phones by the end of 2023, as Vodafone sets a deadline for switching off its ageing 3G network next year with a promise that no one will be left behind".

Vodafone, which has about 18 million UK mobile customers, is to turn off the almost two-decade-old network as usage dwindles to focus on using the freed up spectrum to expand its 4G and 5G networks.