Security firms urged to upgrade vehicle trackers amid 2G shutdown

By Nakinskie Robinson    

 

President of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Alliance, Donovan Wignal, says security companies must urgently upgrade their vehicle tracking systems.

 

His recommendation comes after communications service provider, Flow, on Monday pulled the plug on its second generation system, blocking users who remain on 2G-only devices from accessing mobile services.

 

Its competitor, Digicel, is expected to do the same come August 31.

 

Vehicle tracking systems, point of sale machines, gate openers, tradesmen and the elderly who primarily use 2G-only mobile phones are likely to be impacted by the move.

 

Mr. Wignal said the security companies must act swiftly to avoid widespread fallout. 

 

"A great many of the vehicle tracking services, vehicle tracking devices are 2G. I know that most of mine are 2G and...if they are using Flow, I know that today I will not be able to track vehicles. So that is something that for the security companies, they need now to move apace to change out those old vehicle tracking devices because that service would literally go down today," the MSME Alliance president pointed out. 

 

He was a guest Monday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106FM.

 

The move to shut down the 2G network, which has been on the books since 2022, has been delayed by the Russia/Ukraine war.

 

Ukraine supplies a large number of point of sale (POS) machines to Jamaica.

 

Mr. Wignal said the impact on businesses will not be as severe, since most POS machines have been upgraded. 

 

But amid concerns about the transition for elderly people and tradesmen, cyber security expert Trevor Forrest contends that the impact on these groups will not be as significant. 

 

"I know for a fact that no 2G devices were being sold for years now. They would have reached end of life already, so the manufacturer of those devices would have told you that the end of life of this device would have been 'X' time. And if it is that you are using a 2G phone and the 2G network is barely supported, if you want proper service, you would have had to change out to a more modern frequency band if you wanted to use the phone," he noted. 

 

He added that the older and simpler phones, usually called 'bangers', are now just cheaper smart phones. "It is not a phone with non-colour screen. I mean those are not even sold anymore," said Mr. Forrest, who was also a guest Monday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106FM.