With two months until Virgin Media O2 begins withdrawing inbound 2G roaming on our network (from 1 October 2025), and with 3G roaming set to be fully phased out by 31 December 2025, the clock is ticking for organisations still relying on legacy connectivity to migrate. While many have already begun their transition to 4G and 5G, there may be businesses that require more detailed planning and urgent action.
We’ve been working closely with the Telecare Services Association (TSA), Ofcom, and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to ensure that the telecare industry is ready for the change. Over the past few months, we’ve taken a proactive approach, working directly with TSA to help their member organisations plan and prepare for 2G and 3G inbound roaming withdrawal, including:
- Regular sessions with regulators, government bodies, and TSA to provide context around the withdrawal and identify specific risks and mitigations.
- Participation in TSA-hosted industry events helping to brief the wider telecare community on the implications of the switch-off.
- Supporting telecare providers in identifying high-risk devices, enabling the industry to better understand the scale and nature of the challenge.
Getting your organisation ready
Through working closely with the telecare industry, we’ve discovered key challenges to migration and are sharing the insights on how to tackle them, in the hopes that other industries can use these findings to support their plans. Here are the ways your organisation can prepare:
- Understand which devices are at risk and the locations. Conduct a thorough assessment of all your connected devices to ensure that you’re aware of the locations that require your attention. This may need you to work with your service provider to collect information from devices on the different networks they can attach to or run tests to identify devices that can only attach to the Virgin Media O2 2G network.
- Budget appropriately for any replacements. Make sure you’re anticipating your organisation’s needs and be aware that the activity of replacing devices themselves can be a significant part of the costs of upgrading a device.
- Manage your team’s time to prioritise replacement visits. Ensure your engineers have the time and prep to carry out site visits for replacing devices.
- Consider if your devices can roam on another 2G network. This should be considered and checked during the process of identifying at risk devices.
All organisations that have devices operating on legacy 2G and 3G roaming networks should ensure they can answer these questions. Act now, assess your device estate, and ensure you’re future-ready.
While we’ve made significant progress, we’re still seeing inbound roaming traffic on our 2G and 3G networks. If your organisation hasn’t yet confirmed that all connected devices are 4G or 5G compatible, now is the time.
Roaming onto O2’s network can only be provided by other network operators. This means that in most cases we cannot identify or contact organisations that still rely on these services. Only the other network operators who provide the roaming services can directly identify or contact the organisations still relying on these services. That’s why we’re urging everyone, whether they’re a Virgin Media O2 customer or not, to speak to their provider and check their connectivity solutions today.
Building a future-ready foundation
This transition is about unlocking the potential of next-generation connectivity—faster speeds, lower latency, greater capacity, and a more sustainable future.
We’re proud to be investing around £2 million every day in our mobile networks, helping businesses stay competitive in an increasingly digital world. With 4G covering 99% of the UK and 5G reaching 75% of the population, the infrastructure is ready. The only question is, are you?
For more information on how to prepare, check out our connectivity guide and speak to your provider today.
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