This event marks the 20th anniversary of its mobile service business and commemorates the 80th anniversary of the founding of the People's Army of Vietnam. With this, Viettel becomes the first company to officially provide 5G services in Vietnam. The event was attended by Senior Lieutenant General Pham Hoai Nam, a member of the Party Central Committee and Deputy Minister of National Defense; Mr. Pham Duc Long, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications; and Mr. Ho Sy Hung, Vice Chairman of the State Capital Management Committee. From Viettel, Major General Tao Duc Thang, Chairman and CEO, along with former executives, company leaders, and employees representing various divisions, were also present.

Viettel 5G Network: The Broadest Coverage, Most Advanced Technology, and Best Quality

Launched just six months after obtaining a frequency license for 2,600 MHz, the Viettel 5G network now has over 6,500 BTS stations, covering all 63 provincial capitals, as well as industrial zones, tourist sites, ports, airports, hospitals, and universities. Viettel's 5G network reaches speeds between 700 Mbps and 1 Gbps, about ten times faster than 4G, with near-zero latency. It offers both NSA (non-standalone) and SA (standalone) 5G architectures.

Viettel initially deployed NSA 5G in 2019, yet 5G SA is a truly independent network from 4G. Unlike NSA 5G, which focuses on high-speed data transmission, 5G SA provides ultra-low latency, around 1ms, significantly outperforming NSA 5G and offering 20 times the latency improvement over traditional 4G, enabling applications such as autonomous vehicles, remote surgeries, remote operations in smart factories, and virtual reality classrooms.

Viettel has developed open APIs (data provision, configuration, and network interaction) compliant with GSMA standards, facilitating easy development on the Viettel 5G platform for the global and Vietnamese developer communities.

Viettel also introduced 11 prepaid and 8 postpaid packages for individual customers. Notably, 5G customers receive free cloud storage and 4K TV360 streaming. Customers with 5G-compatible phones can instantly access services without changing SIMs. Viettel also launched an online purchasing hub at hub.vietteltelecom.vn to help users select tailored 5G packages conveniently.

For enterprise customers, Viettel announced over 130 use cases, including applications and solutions for industries such as manufacturing, smart cities, transportation and logistics, agriculture, healthcare, education, and energy. These solutions are customized for each industry’s needs, integrating 5G with cloud, AI, and IoT technologies to enable high-density connections.

Speaking at the event, Major General Tao Duc Thang, Chairman and CEO of Viettel, noted that while Viettel initially adopted 2G, 3G, and 4G technologies that had been globally established for 8-13 years, this time, Vietnam is advancing alongside the world’s latest technology in the 4.0 revolution. He emphasized that Viettel has become the first network to trial 5G in all 63 provinces and cities. “A new future for mobile begins today,” stated Chairman Tao Duc Thang.

Mr. Cao Anh Son, CEO of Viettel Telecom, highlighted Viettel’s aspirations for each generation of technology: “With 2G, it was ‘each citizen owning a mobile phone’; with 4G, ‘each citizen owning a smartphone’; and with 5G, it’s ‘each citizen having access to super-fast, super-connected smartphones’ to address major societal challenges and build a digital, intelligent era in Vietnam.”

The message of Viettel's 5G network is “New Life,” as Viettel believes 5G will introduce new human-centered services, connect people and devices, and create tools and platforms for societal development.

20 Years of Viettel Mobile – Connecting from the Heart

On October 15, 2024, Viettel also celebrated 20 years of officially providing mobile services. Over two decades, Viettel has led two revolutions: making mobile services accessible and raising mobile penetration from under 5% in 2004 to over 100% within five years, reaching 130% today.

As the goal of mobile phone ownership became a reality, Viettel continued its mission to provide broadband internet access, aiming for each household to have fiber optic connections and each citizen to own a smartphone.

In the past 20 years, Viettel Mobile has achieved numerous milestones:

• As the only mobile company operating in all three Indochina countries, Viettel introduced “roaming like home,” allowing customers in these three countries to use mobile services at domestic rates. This policy reduced SMS costs by tenfold, international call rates by fourteen times, and data rates by 140 times for hundreds of thousands of customers.
• As a pioneer and the sole provider covering the entire Vietnamese coastal area, Viettel’s service has become essential for military personnel, fishermen, and millions of coastal residents.
• Viettel developed vOCS, the world’s largest real-time charging system, offering super high capacity and customization for individualized service packages.
• Investing in mobile services across 10 countries in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, Viettel leads in seven of these markets. It has extended coverage to the deepest areas of the Amazon (Peru) and brought mobile connectivity to nearly 6,000 villages in international markets, enabling millions of local residents to access telecommunications and IT services.

Mr. Cao Anh Son emphasized, “Over the past 20 years, Viettel Telecom is proud to have contributed to the telecommunications sector and the country’s development to serve the people. In the next phase, we will continue innovating and pioneering to build a digital society, establishing platforms to transition from telecommunications to digital infrastructure, focusing on developing the digital economy, society, and government. We will relentlessly strive toward the era of Vietnam’s global advancement.”