Brian Jeffrey
With a focus on digital advancement, the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) has greenlighted an ambitious strategy to ensure full mobile broadband coverage along national highways, expressways, industrial zones, and urban railways by 2025.
Known as the “Plan to Enhance the Quality of Vietnam’s Mobile Telecommunications Network by 2025,” this initiative is poised to transform the country’s digital infrastructure.
The central objective of the plan is to enhance Vietnam’s mobile telecommunications network’s overall quality, specifically emphasizing the commercialization of 5G services. This upgrade is anticipated to significantly enrich user experiences for individuals and businesses, playing a vital role in fostering the digital economy, society, and e-government.
The plan was developed by the Department of Telecommunications in collaboration with various units within the MIC, provincial and municipal Information and Communications Departments, and key telecommunications companies like Viettel, VNPT, and MobiFone.
A key aim of the plan is to ensure a minimum average download speed of 40 Mbit/s for 4G Internet services at district and commune levels through the i-Speed application. Additionally, it strives to extend mobile broadband coverage to all underserved remote villages and hamlets, ensuring seamless connectivity along major transportation routes.
By 2025, Vietnam targets 100% mobile broadband coverage on national highways, expressways, and three urban railway lines, guaranteeing no signal loss for over 1 km. Furthermore, the plan proposes phasing out 2G-only mobile telecommunications services, except for specific remote locations like the Spratly and Paracel Islands and offshore oil rigs.
The plan also outlines ambitious objectives for the deployment of 5G services. By 2025, all provinces and cities are anticipated to have 5G coverage, particularly in high-tech zones, information technology hubs, research and innovation centers, industrial parks, airports, and seaports. The average download speed for 5G Internet services in covered regions is projected to reach at least 100 Mbit/s.
To realize these targets, the plan highlights four key areas of focus and nine strategic solutions, including expanding coverage and service quality, enhancing network resilience, enforcing management and quality monitoring, and fostering domestic cooperation to optimize resources.
The nine strategic solutions comprise effective network and service management, inter-sectoral cooperation, spectrum auctioning, technological upgrades, passive telecommunications infrastructure development, shared infrastructure usage, public telecommunications service implementation, public awareness campaigns, and promoting locally-made equipment.
The Department of Telecommunications is tasked with spearheading the plan’s execution, working alongside various MIC units to formulate policies and address challenges faced by telecommunications firms in enhancing network quality. Provincial and municipal Information and Communications Departments, as well as telecommunications service providers, are expected to actively devise detailed action plans and allocate resources and funding to meet the plan’s objectives.
