I have seen plenty of places in country I live in (inside UE) that only have 2G&3G coverage. For better or worse reusing 2G as a fallback or coverage extension has its merit. I don't really think that 2G should be abandoned by operators until low end smartphones have some kind of 5G enablement. 2G is fully digital system. 2G voice calls are not analog. That being said having an option to disable 2G on your phone shouldn't hurt anybody.
