:Will AT&T shutting off "2G" hurt the prepaid companies?

AT&T (per this article), has apparently started the ball rolling to maybe shut down 2G services, at least starting in the NYC area: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/04/a...illing-off-2g/

So I was thinking - Tracfone/Net10/Straight Talk and some other prepaid services use AT&T heavily as their carrier for their phones - many of these phones being older or more basic model 2G devices. If AT&T were to shut down 2G altogether to redirect the signal to 3G services, wouldn't this shut down many of not most of the current prepaid phones that are out there? There are some that use T-mobile, Sprint, and Verizon, but from what I've seen on many of their service sites, it still seems like many of them use AT&T for a lot of their phones, too.

I would assume this will speed up (maybe) the prepaid services to push phone makers to crank out some basic 3G models for folks to upgrade to. I can't help but wonder if because of the increase in prepaid users since the recession started, if maybe AT&T saw this trend as putting a noticeable dent in their profits, and if one of the real motives behind the move might be to cripple the prepaid market?