Vietnam was eight to ten years slower than the world in deploying 3G and 4G. However, that has changed with 5G, a government press release claimed.
The Minister of Information and Communication (MIC), Nguyen Manh Hung, stated that Vietnam will be among the first countries to deploy 5G, both in providing services and manufacturing 5G devices.
Vietnam will commercialise 5G by 2020 with made-in-Vietnam equipment. Vietnam was behind other countries when utilising 2G, 3G and 4G, but it will walk abreast in deploying 5G, he said.
Of 131 mobile network operators that are deploying 5G, three are in Vietnam. There are still no standards and official frequency for 5G in the world. It is expected that standards will be set up in 2020.
Both Viettel and Vingroup have stated they will commercialise 5G telecom devices this year.
2G technology is pure phone technology. 3G is half phone and half data. 4G is purely data, for human-to-human communication. Meanwhile, 5G is also data technology, but it is designed to connect everyone, with new features and low latency.
While 2G, 3G, and 4G are used to connect people across the globe, 5G will connect trillions of devices and transfer the physical world into the virtual world, and fundamentally change human life, the release said.
5G will increase the capacity and speed of broadband information and make connections for everything (IoT), especially those that require real-time response. It will renovate industries, transportation, healthcare, agriculture, and create smart cities.
5G will create a new industry, the industry that produces trillions of devices, sensors, and triggering innovation in almost every industry.
Speaking at the ceremony where Viettel officially began trying 5G in May last year, the Minister stressed that the trial of 5G in 2019 and commercial deployment in 2020 show that Vietnam won’t continue to be behind the world but will be abreast with developed countries.
Viettel’s 5G test must focus on finding out how to improve the quality of the network across the country.
One of the early applications of 5G is the smart factory, where new 5G technologies are being used. Viettel and other network operators should experiment soon to cover all high-tech parks, national innovation centres, and smart factories by 2020, the release concluded.
The country is making efforts to make digital transformation a key strategy to boost the national economy.
Over the past years, Vietnam has set ambitious goals for the digital economy, for example, contributing 30% to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030.
MIC recently quoted a report that stated Vietnam’s Internet economy reached some US$ 12 billion in 2019 on a 38% annualised growth rate since 2015.
With the gross merchandise value (GMV) of its Internet economy accounting for over 5% of the country’s GDP in 2019, Vietnam is emerging as the most digital of all economies in the region.
E-commerce is a key driver behind the impressive numbers, where homegrown marketplaces like Sendo and Tiki compete with regional players like Lazada and Shopee.
According to another report, Vietnam will solidify its position as an e-commerce leader just behind Indonesia with US$ 100 billion and Thailand with US$ 43 billion.