Viettel will build a 9.1-hectare plant at the Hoa Lac High-Tech Park on the city’s outskirts to test and manufacture high-tech equipment and a 13.2-hectare research center for defence products, electronic and telecom equipment, network infrastructure, and 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies.

Viettel will also coordinate with the park's management board to trial applications for smart cities related to issues like environmental management, urban lighting and smart parking.

VinSmart, the electronics arm of Vietnam’s biggest private conglomerate, Vingroup, will build a 4.8-ha smart electronics plant which is likely to have a capacity of 125 million devices a year in its first phase. 

Their completion dates are not known.

Viettel and VinSmart’s plants are two of four new projects worth VND7.46 trillion ($320.42 million) that have been approved at the park, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The others are by two private companies to produce drugs and radiation-resistant plastics.

Military-run Viettel in January became the first company in the country to receive permission to trial 5G services followed by MobiFone. It plans to launch in 2020, installed the first 5G station in Hanoi early this year and made the first 5G phone call in May.

VinSmart was established by Vingroup in June, and produced its first smartphones within just six months. It has produced a total of eight models so far.