Qualcomm partners with Vietnam in 5G rollout

Vietnam plans to commercialise 5G in 2023. What factors should Vietnam focus on to make it happen?

With the top priorities of the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) including 5G commercialisation, the thrust of the Vietnamese government towards modernisation and digital transformation of various sectors, and more companies working together towards realising 5G in the country, I believe that Vietnam is more poised than ever to accelerate 5G commercialisation this year.

Nam Thieu, country director of Qualcomm Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia

For Vietnam to fully realise this, there are two main priorities for the country. First, the necessary infrastructure needs to be set up to ensure that people and institutions can have proper access to the network. At Qualcomm, we have continuously been working closely with VIettel to introduce solutions that would help accelerate the necessary infrastructure.

Second, frequency band planning is crucial. It’s important to recognise that frequency band planning is an integral step that would lead to 5G licensing. We recognise that the MIC has been working hard towards these two important steps that would make 5G commercialisation happen in 2023.

What are your expectations from the 5G rollout in Vietnam? How will Qualcomm’s business strategies align with the country’s 5G plan, and Qualcomm globally?

We believe that the government is making the full rollout of 5G a key priority this year, especially given the economic benefits to be yielded. In fact, it has been said that 5G technology may contribute to 7.34 per cent of the economic growth of the country in 2025.

We see how 5G will be essential in increasing labour productivity, in improving infrastructure allowing for better efficiencies, and to provide a great foundation for the way people work and live.

The development and deployment of 5G has always been one of our strategic priorities at Qualcomm. We have always been at the forefront of research regarding the mobile network, and in producing technologies that allow to utilise these to improve the way we work and live. One of the ways this is evidenced is through our Snapdragon chipsets, which can tap into 5G mobile networks to provide enhanced everyday experiences for consumers.

Digital and green transition are now twin trends in Vietnam and globally. How can Qualcomm contribute to this?

At Qualcomm, we believe in purposeful innovation. This has always been our guiding principle when we set goals and make decisions as we use technology to make a positive impact on society, especially when it comes to climate change.

We believe that the technologies we develop can enable a more sustainable future. This is something we see when it comes to 5G. Given the many benefits of 5G, more stakeholders can use 5G as a foundation when it comes to developing innovations to help in mitigating climate change. We forecast that 5G can serve as a foundation in helping reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, optimise energy usage, and improve household water management, among many others.

We are guided by our global ambitions when it comes to our environmental commitments. We have aligned our targets according to the Science Based Targets Initiative’s Business Ambition for 1.5° degrees Celsius, and the United Nations’ Race to Zero.

These goals guide us in the design and manufacturing of our products, such that sustainability is still at the core of all these. Concretely, we collaborate closely with suppliers, and we have stringent measures in place to ensure that they are compliant according to the highest standards according to labour issues, health and safety, ethics and management systems, and environment.

In September 2021, at Viettel Innovation Lab, Viettel Corporation, Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. cooperated to research, test and successfully establish 5G data transmission speed of over 4.7Gbps. Have you had any other cooperation activities since then?

We at Qualcomm find ways to collaborate closely with ecosystem partners to advance 5G deployment in the country.

At the recent Mobile World Congress this year, along with Viettel, we introduced new 5G Open RAN solutions featuring Qualcomm 5G RAN platforms.

These help in accelerating 5G rollout given that infrastructure is key to enable full commercialisation. This comes after an announcement we made with Viettel in May 2022 regarding collaborating to create Open RAN network solutions.

MIC and Qualcomm intensify cooperation on 5G technology On April 12, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Pham Duc Long had a meeting with ST Liew, vice president of Qualcomm Technologies Inc. and president of the company's business in Taiwan and Southeast Asia, and Thieu Phuong Nam, country director for Qualcomm in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia to discuss future cooperation on 5G and 6G technology.

Qualcomm debuts Wi-Fi 7 networking Pro Series Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. on May 4 announced Wi-Fi 7 Networking Pro Series, the world's most scalable commercial Wi-Fi 7 platform.

Qualcomm partners with Vietnam for 5G rollout Shah Zeb and Nam Thieu from Qualcomm spoke to VIR’s Bich Thuy about how important 5G is for a successful digital transformation and why it’s important for the country to accelerate the commercialisation of 5G.