5G network testing licences for Viettel, VNPT and MobiFone extended

The Telecommunications Department said that the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group’s (VNPT) license to test the 5G technology has expired and it has asked for extension.

Gia hạn thử nghiệm 5G cho Viettel, VNPT và MobiFone

Cục Viễn thông cho biết, Viettel và MobiFone đã được gia hạn giấy phép thử nghiệm 5G đến tháng 1/2021 và tháng 5/2021.

Meanwhile, Viettel Group and MobiFone’s licences have been extended until January 2021 and May 2021.

A representative of the Telecommunications Department under the Ministry of Information and Communications said that in 2019, the Ministry of Information and Communications granted 5G network testing licence to Viettel, VNPT and MobiFone. The test is conducted in the four cities of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and Hai Phong.

These mobile carriers are licensed to trial 5G network with internal subscribers to evaluate technical features and the possibility of deploying telecommunications infrastructure using the new technology.

The Telecommunications Department said that the trial license of VNPT has expired and this carrier has asked for trial extension. Previously, Viettel and MobiFone’s licences have been extended until January 2021 and May 2021.

According to a report by the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), by the end of May 2020, 386 carriers in 125 countries announced investment in developing 5G network. 81 carriers have deployed at least one 5G service; 73 carriers in 38 countries/territories have applied 5G mobile technology and 39 carriers in 24 countries/territories have deployed fixed wireless broadband technology.

Currently, the number of announced 5G terminals continues to grow rapidly and are relatively ready for commercial 5G. To date, 81 equipment suppliers have announced that the 5G terminals are available or about to be launched, and 283 terminals have been announced. Of which, there are 108 phone models (at least 95 models available in the market), 79 CPE devices (indoors and outdoors), 47 modules, 5 laptops, 19 hotspots, 20 other devices including 3 robots, 2 IoT routers, 2 drones. Device suppliers including Huawei, Mediatek, Qualcomm and Samsung have announced new chipset models for 5G.

In Vietnam, according to Viettel's statistics, the number of 5G terminals is very small, with only about 2,000 devices/city in the two major cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

To encourage telecommunications businesses to continue 5G network testing and provide commercial testing soon, the Telecommunications Department have requested local Departments of Information and Communications to coordinate with telecom service providers to add their localities into these businesses’ plan of 5G testing.

The Telecommunications Department said that due to technical specification, it is impossible to have 5G coverage as large as 4G so localities need to coordinate with carriers to choose the most suitable places for the trial. This is the basis for the Ministry of Information and Communications to license the 5G network test.

The Telecommunications Department have also requested carriers to coordinate with the Department of Information and Communications to deploy the sharing of telecommunications infrastructure and develop plans for sharing interdisciplinary technical infrastructure (electricity, water, traffic, urban lighting ...) as 5G technology requires a much larger number of transmitting stations compared to previous generation technologies.

According to the Ministry of Information and Communications, telecommunications infrastructure is having an important shift from frequency infrastructure as an economic foundation to an important national infrastructure. It is advantageous for the implementation of 5G network in Vietnam because Vietnam's electronics and telecommunications businesses have actively produced information and telecommunications infrastructure equipment. Vietnam aims to conduct 5G commercial deployment with 100% of domestic equipment in October 2020. This is an important step towards for both socio-economic development and security and defense assurance.

Thai Khang

Vietnam to commercialise 5G in October

Vietnam will commercialise 5G network in October using entirely domestically produced equipment, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC).