SK Telecom has begun shutting down its 2G services.

South Korea's top mobile carrier by subscribers received government approval last month to terminate its 25-year-old network and on Monday started switching off its 2G base stations in eight provinces and the central city of Sejong.

It will phase out the service in the rest of the country by July 27.

As of the end of May, there were around 860,000 mobile devices connected to 2G, accounting for just 1.2 percent of the total 69 million mobile subscription accounts in the country, according to ICT ministry data.

The network's termination, however, faces resistance from a small group of 2G users who will have to change their phone numbers on upgraded networks.

After June 2021, the first three digits of SK Telecom 2G users phone numbers that start with 011 and 017 will all be changed to 010, used for 3G phones and higher.

KT, the country's No. 2 mobile carrier, ended 2G services in 2011.

LG Uplus is expected to soon follow its rivals.

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