In the afternoon of April 15, at the State Management Briefing Conference in the first quarter of 2024, the Ministry of Information and Communications awarded the license to establish a terrestrial mobile public telecommunications network using 5G technology to the Military Industry and Telecommunications Group (Viettel Group).
Speaking at the event, Director General of the Department of Telecommunications Nguyen Thanh Phuc said that after 15 years of regulations on radio frequency auction in the Law on Radio Frequencies 2009, for the first time, the Ministry of Information and Communications successfully organized the auction of radio frequency use rights for the 5G deployment band.
Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung awarded a license to establish a network and provide terrestrial mobile information services using 5G technology to Viettel.
"With the successful auction of the right to use the above-mentioned radio frequencies, the Ministry of Information and Communications has officially licensed the establishment of a network and provision of terrestrial mobile communication services using 5G technology from April 11, 2024. Businesses will quickly deploy 5G commercialization nationwide in 2024, forming a new infrastructure to promote the development of digital economy – digital society – digital government in Vietnam" – Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phuc said.
Earlier, in March 2024, the Ministry of Information and Communications held an auction of spectrum for 4G/5G.
According to the published results, Viettel Group won the auction of the B1 band block (2500 – 2600 MHz) for VND 7,533,257,500,000 (Seven thousand five hundred and thirty-three billion, two hundred fifty-seven million, five hundred thousand VND) and VNPT with the band block 3700 – 3800 MHz. Particularly the C3 band block (3800 – 3900 MHz), Because only 1 enterprise pays a reservation to participate in the auction, according to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 52, Article 59 of the Law on Property Auction in 2016, there is not enough minimum number of enterprises eligible to participate in the auction as prescribed, so the auction of C3 band block failed.
The deployment of 5G is currently one of the key tasks of the National Digital Transformation Program to 2025, oriented to 2030.
Thanks to its advantages in speed, connectivity and security, 5G combined with edge computing enables businesses to process and analyze larger volumes of data at an optimal cost. 5G will enable the widespread use of AI-enabled technologies and IoT applications in many sectors. Using 5G can help businesses increase revenue and value as they are better equipped to monetize huge amounts of data. Technological developments, powered by 5G, will expand the mobile ecosystem into new industries. In particular, 5G brings huge benefits to the logistics and high-tech agriculture industries.
Quickly deploy 5G commercialization nationwide in 2024, forming a new infrastructure, promoting the development of digital economy, digital society and digital government in Vietnam.
In the logistics sector, 5G will help logistics businesses currently using IoT devices grow to a new level. It solves the common problem of delays in shipping and information to customers. With low latency, logistics providers can continuously monitor and update shipment status, improving predictability of location and arrival information.
For agriculture, 5G deployment is key to achieving high-tech agriculture. With speeds 10 times faster than 4G, wireless sensors connected via 5G networks will increase the amount of real-time data and facilitate precision farming, enabling the deployment of large numbers of IoT devices. Farmers can also use health monitoring devices for livestock, obtaining much more accurate and timely health data. This allows for a significant reduction in antibiotic use without risking the safety of the food supply chain.
5G also helps drive many other areas such as manufacturing, smart transportation management, energy management, construction and mining, digital education, telehealth, smart retail, and smart cities. The telecom market will also benefit, with 5G set to be a new source of revenue as large numbers of subscribers decide to switch to newer and faster network technology.