5G is the most important foundation of digital economy

The ASEAN Conference on 5G

The ASEAN Conference on 5G taking place yesterday (March 22, 2019) saw the participation of ministers, leaders of telecommunications authorities of ASEAN and other countries, and representatives of leading communications organisations and businesses.

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam lauded the conference as platform to discuss and share experience in the management and application of technology, realise opportunities and challenges, as well as set out directions, tasks, and solutions for the development of technology and 5G – the next generation of wireless technology in the ASEAN.

The deputy prime minister said that during the process of changing and upgrading technology, if businesses, organisations, even the regional community take the initiative and pioneer new trends, they will be able to reach numerous achievements.

"Experts and businesses in this sector have been forecasting that 5G will be the keyword in the last years of this decade and the early years of the following decade," confirmed DPM Dam.

He said that launching 2G enabled people to send messages to each other, 3G integrated the Internet and telecommunications networks, and 4G improved the speed of 3G. 5G will be much faster and integrateInternet of Things tools. "Not only people, businesses from small to medium and large size, will apply new technology and open new opportunities, but it is not easy to begin."

High-level government officials and speakers participating at the conference

Speaking at the conference, Minister of Information and Communication Nguyen Manh Hung emphasised the important role of implementing a 5G network. The digital economy, which applies new kinds of technology, will produce great business opportunities for enterprises in Vietnam. Breakthrough technologies will better connect supply chains, as well as reduce transaction and logistics costs.

Since early 2019, the Ministry of Information and Communications has granted permits for enterprises to pilot 5G in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam is currently boosting the development of IoT devices, telecommunications devices, and 5G chipsets. Therefore, Vietnam is willing to partner with Southeast Asian countries to open joint venture companies and information technology producers.

In addition, Vietnam is also willing to share its technological experiences with Southeast Asian countries, to help them take control and protect national cybersecurity. For the ASEAN to develop together, the countries need to develop digital infrastructure to narrow the technology gap separating it from developed countries.

Kai Sahala, head of Sales 5G, Asia-Pacific and Japan, Nokia Thanks to the efficiency of 5G, which helps boost new kinds of technology without infrastructure, new jobs based on technology will replace many jobs that mainly depend on infrastructure. Therefore, moving forward to 5G is a big step to approach Industry 4.0. 5G access will be launched this year in most advanced countries like the US, South Korea, Australia, Japan, and others. Devices to apply 5G like smartphones and Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) are really hot among consumers across the world, even in Vietnam. Therefore, Vietnam cannot fall behind this trend. Firstly, 5G helps to meet consumer’s daily demand, leading to the launch of related applications to serve consumers. Later on, it will impact all industries, bringing them closer to Industry 4.0.