5G to accelerate Vietnam’s digital transformation

Is Vietnam ready for a 5G rollout in 2023 and how important will commercialisation be for the country?

We support the government’s vision that the next wave of socioeconomic development in Vietnam will be created through innovation, science, and technology, driven by the digital economy, with 5G as the critical national infrastructure.

Denis Brunetti, president of Ericsson in Vietnam and Myanmar

A key component of Vietnam’s national digital transformation and Industry 4.0 strategy is the digital economy, which will contribute 20 per cent of GDP by 2025 and 30 per cent by 2030. The digital economy is already valued at $23 billion in 2022, compared to $3 billion in 2015, making Vietnam the third-largest digital economy in Southeast Asia.

5G is a huge platform for innovation, just like 4G has been, and it will cater to both consumers and enterprises. It will accelerate Vietnam’s digital transformation and enable the country to embrace Industry 4.0, increasing productivity growth rates and realising its full potential as an investment destination nation.

The digital infrastructure being established in Vietnam will help the country bridge the digital divide, create more jobs, and further boost the economy. It will also further drive innovation, job creation, and startup entrepreneurship across the country.

The enhanced speed, security, and resilience offered by 5G will provide stimulus for local industry to innovate and digitalise rapidly, creating significant economic value for the country. Connected, digital enterprises thrive and generate jobs, whilst also contributing to government revenues and efforts to address climate change. It will help businesses in Vietnam simplify operations and reduce costs, thereby increasing efficiency and productivity.

How does Ericsson utilise its global expertise to support Vietnam?

Ericsson is at the forefront of 5G around the world and is recognised as an industry leader having recently topped Frost Radar’s Global 5G Network Infrastructure Market rankings for the second year in a row. We have 137 live networks in 61 countries, which is more than any other vendor.

Within Southeast Asia, Oceania, and India, we have 12 live 5G networks in eight markets. With Rjio, we are creating the largest 5G Standalone network in the world.

The 5G network that we are deploying in Malaysia will be the first commercial network in the world to apply dynamic radio resource partitioning – a 5G radio access network slicing solution that will enable six mobile network operators to deliver customised 5G services with guaranteed performance.

Ericsson has also invested around 17 per cent of its global revenues in research and development (R&D), and holds the leading patent portfolio in the industry with more than 60,000 granted patents worldwide. Our global 5G and technology leadership is based on our consistent and growing investments in R&D, with more than a quarter of our global workforce working in that area.

We have been supporting Vietnamese mobile service providers with commercial 5G pilots since 2020, leveraging our technology leadership and expansive 4G installed base – which can seamlessly and efficiently be upgraded to 5G capabilities when required. We are proactively working with mobile service providers to ensure Vietnam is at the forefront of 5G developments, sharing our technical capabilities as well as our global, regional, and local market insights.

Besides infrastructure investment, human resource training is also a key to success for commercialisation of 5G and digital transformation in Vietnam. What should Vietnam focus on to have qualified manpower for this?

Vietnam is on track in building a qualified workforce to deploy 5G, as well as prepare students and its youth for a digital future. Ericsson is leveraging its global deployment experience and leadership to prepare the networks of our partners, the service providers in Vietnam, to seamlessly migrate to 5G.

To fully leverage the benefits within enterprises across all economic sectors, the workforce in Vietnam will be upskilled and re-skilled, which will be supported by public-private partnerships in Vietnam. Ericsson also recognises the need to lead the market in forging strategic 5G ecosystem collaborations and partnerships that include cross-industry players and startups, bringing them together with mobile service providers to deliver compelling digital transformation engagements and new revenue streams.

To help educate Vietnamese students on 5G and related emerging technologies such as AI, automation, cloud computing, blockchain, and more, we are collaborating with RMIT University of Vietnam for an education initiative. This strategic collaboration, signed in December 2021, opens the Ericsson Educate digital platform to RMIT Vietnam students.

It also involves guest lectures, research projects, internship programmes, and industrial projects as well as creating relevant opportunities for students to benefit from Ericsson’s technology and 5G leadership.

This collaboration will enable RMIT’s science, engineering, and technology students to participate and contribute to Vietnam’s Industry 4.0 transformation, preparing the nation for its next wave of socioeconomic development, driven by sci-tech and innovation.