After the Radio Frequency Department reports to the Ministry’s leadership to re-auction the 3800-3900 MHz band block, if there continues to be only one business participating in the auction, this band block may be resell it to that business according to regulations.
Preparing to move to 5G, but still need to invest in 4G
After awarding the 5G license, Minister Nguyen Manh Hung emphasized: By 2030, in Vietnam, the main capacity will still be 4G. At the earliest, it will not be until 2029 that 5G capacity and subscribers will surpass 4G. Therefore, the Minister requested that network operators still focus on improving the quality of 4G services. The Ministry of Information and Communications is also considering deploying bidding for the 700 MHz frequency to deploy 4G to ensure quality.
Minister Nguyen Manh Hung also directed units of the Ministry of Information and Communications to conduct measurements and publicly announce the quality of mobile services on the media, so that network operators always strive to ensure the quality of services provided to customers. client.
Previously sharing about 4G demand in Vietnam, Ericsson representative said that 5G deployment is similar to the 2G, 3G and 4G generations of mobile services. 2G has been available in Vietnam since the 1990s, but in the 2009 – 2010 period, when 3G was deployed, it was “like an island in the 2G sea”, later gradually expanding and becoming a sea. 4G was similar, and now 5G is repeating that process.
“For Vietnam, 4G is still important and will exist for many years to come. Continued investment in 4G is critical. After the pandemic, people gradually switched to online working habits, so the demand for mobile broadband networks is very large, requiring the expansion of 4G network capacity. However, 5G will be deployed in hot spots, industrial parks, and large cities,” said an Ericsson representative.
Ericsson’s representative also affirmed that 5G will be a digital infrastructure that will almost replace physical infrastructure in building the foundation and connecting society in the future. This digital infrastructure creates connections not only between people and people, but also between people and machines, and between machines and machines. These are the foundations that create automation as well as the transition between industries.
According to the plan of the Ministry of Information and Communications, 2G Only subscribers will no longer be online from September 2024. Two years later, maintaining the 2G network was only to provide voice to 3G and 4G subscribers that did not integrate VoLTE – the exchange feature via the 4G platform.
Mr. Nguyen Van Son, Director of Viettel’s Mobile Center, affirmed: Viettel has pioneered turning off 3G technology. Currently, there are almost no 3G subscribers on Viettel’s network, only a few hotspot points (wireless access points that allow users to connect mobile devices to the Internet – PV) to serve transmission.
With 2G technology, according to the plan of the Ministry of Information and Communications, by September 2024, network operators will stop providing 2G for 2G Only devices. “Currently, Viettel is actively converting 2G customers to 4G. Viettel may only have two technologies left, 4G and 5G, by the end of 2024, meaning Viettel customers are only 4G and 5G subscribers,” said Mr. Nguyen Van Son.
The conversion of 2G customers to 4G was carried out by this network 4 years ago. Besides, Viettel is also the first network operator to successfully convert all 3G subscribers to 4G. To be able to turn off 2G waves, Viettel’s goal from now until September 2024 is to shift, bringing the rate of 2G subscribers on the network from about 16% currently to less than 5%.
Lesson 2: 5G will bring new revenue opportunities for Vietnamese carriers
