Deputy general director Bui Son Nam

MobiFone is one of three network operators licensed to trial 5G in cities and provinces. What have been the results of the trial performance?

MobiFone has been licensed by the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) to trial 5G service since April 2019. We have worked with the world’s leading suppliers of telecommunication devices to do technical trials in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and the central city of Danang, and Haiphong. The results have been positive with an increase in customers’ experience, and the download data rate has reached approximately 2Gbps.

At present, MobiFone is in the second phase of 5G commercialisation trials, which involves modernising the network, increasing connectivity and service integration, and providing trial services for customers.

What is the potential growth of 5G commercialisation services in the local market for MobiFone, and what are your future plans?

Developing infrastructure with the focus being telecommunications infrastructure, 5G network, and IT infrastructure plays a key role in increasing efficiency and competitiveness for e-government applications and platforms.

The 5G network will be the foundation for the development of Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity; and building a roadmap and implementing the integration of sensors and digital technology into major infrastructure in transport, energy, water, and urban areas to make it an important part of digital technologies.

MobiFone is building a roadmap for implementation and commercialisation when 5G is licensed by the MIC. It has also been studying the solutions for smart agriculture, e-meetings, e-learning, industry automation, and others based on 5G technology.

To promote the development of smart services based on 5G in Vietnam, it is necessary to build an ecosystem with multi-connectivity to enable customers to easily get access to services as well as meet their needs in daily workload and entertainment activities.

Vietnam is taking a number of solutions and actions to increase 5G coverage. How does MobiFone evaluate the feasibility and opportunities of this orientation?

MobiFone is cooperating with other mobile network operators to trial the sharing of infrastructure. After the pilot, we will have a concrete assessment of the efficiency of this model.

The MIC encourages mobile network operators to share base stations. Accordingly, in the early stage of 5G development, each carrier will cover 25 per cent of the country’s area and perform roaming together to reduce investment costs. This is a good policy to accelerate 5G development in the country, and MobiFone strongly advocates this.

MobiFone proposes that state management authorities soon have plans for broadband and frequency, as well as early license 5G commercialisation in Vietnam.

As part of our plans, MobiFone has organised meetings and conferences on technology development cooperation with industry leaders such as Qualcomm, Ericsson, Nokia, and others to build a 5G network development strategy in Vietnam, while focusing on developing ecosystems of 5G application services.