The Deputy-General Director of the Authority of Telecommunications, Nguyen Phong Nha, has said that 5G networks with higher speed, wider bandwidth, and lower latency will serve all economic sectors.
He was speaking at an online seminar on the development of the technology, held by Qualcomm. It discussed the potential of the network in Vietnam.
Vietnam is one of the first countries to commercialise 5G, following successful tests in 2019.
Experts noted that the manufacturing industry is evolving fast and industry leaders are looking for increased flexibility in production, automation, and assembly processes while also reducing personnel safety risks.
The department recorded a 40% increase in data usage. The network can deploy larger-scale IoT platforms, enabling tens of billions of IoT devices to connect within the 5G network.
With higher speeds, storage capacity will no longer be dependent on the terminal, instead big data can be saved and retrieved from the cloud.
Due to low latency, 5G will provide new services that 4G cannot yet implement, such as smart health, self-driving cars, smart cities, or live high-resolution videos that serve all industries in Vietnam.
Once the network operator has built a strong 5G network, both big enterprises and start-ups will have more business opportunities.
The Deputy-General linked the development of the network with the national programme, Make In Vietnam, that encourages the domestic production and manufacturing of products. The aim is for local technology firms to turn the country into an economic engine and escape the middle-income trap.
As Vietnam reforms policies to attract investment and deploys sandboxes to test new business models, it will also transform telecommunications infrastructure.
Qualcomm said 5G development was aligned with the Vietnamese government’s digitalisation plans and its objective of making full use of opportunities brought about by Industry 4.0, as summed up in Resolution No. 52-NQ/TW dated 27 September 2019.
In the National Strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the government outlined specific socio-economic targets through 2030, including the digital economy accounting for 30% of GDP, completing the formulation of e-government, and forming smart urban chains in key economic regions.
The Deputy-General further noted that with the commitment to the growth of the wireless industry, Qualcomm has invested significantly in supporting ecosystem partners and fostering innovation through the programme Qualcomm Vietnam Innovation Challenge.
While Qualcomm reported about 30 countries with commercialised 5G and 375 smartphone devices, CPE, and 5G modules have been produced to use in the network. A recent projects a per-person average possession of five smart devices by 2025.
It noted that apart from eight billion smartphones, there will be more than 20 billion PCs, tablets, VR headsets, smartwatches, and smart screens among other smart devices.
As a result of 5G connections, these physical devices for homes or offices can be systematically integrated with the digital world to build new smart infrastructure platforms for consumption, education, travel, and work. This, in turn, will create new types of smart services.
