The importance of 5G for Vietnam

Denis Brunetti, president of Ericsson in Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos

The year of 2020 will be remembered as a milestone in Vietnam’s ICT history as three of the country’s largest mobile operators, Viettel, VNPT, and MobiFone gave consumers the first experience of 5G through commercial pilots in partnerships with mobile network equipment providers like Ericsson. With this initial launch of 5G services, people in several locations across Vietnam have already been experiencing the higher speeds and superior performance that 5G offers, with the promise of much more to come.

It is an incredibly exciting time to be part of the technology sector. The launch of 5G services will serve the government’s goal of making Vietnam one of the early adopters of 5G across industry and society. The technology will enable Vietnam to unleash the full potential of the Industry 4.0 and will be the foundation upon which Vietnam can further build on its digital transformation and realise its strategic visions.

When we reflect on the history of the ICT industry in Vietnam, we can clearly see the pivotal impact Viettel, VNPT, and MobiFone have each had on Vietnam’s phenomenal GDP growth and sustained socioeconomic development as all three pioneered the establishment of the country’s nationwide mobile networks.

Through their innovative and pioneering spirit, they built the first 2G, 3G, and 4G mobile networks that connected people from large cities to rural areas and even remote mountainous communities, empowering and enabling society to communicate anywhere, anytime.

Ericsson proudly continues its long-term and strategic collaboration with the ICT industry in Vietnam as we embark on the exciting 5G journey, sharing a common vision and an aligned sense of purpose that promises to digitally transform industries, enterprises, and society. Driving the next wave of inclusive and sustained socioeconomic development throughout Vietnam, 5G mobile network capabilities will play a pivotal role in achieving this vision, supporting an accelerated adoption of Industry 4.0 across the nation and helping to drive increased productivity and efficiency gains across a range of industries.

Vietnam is one of the few countries globally to be building its own exclusive 5G network through its relationship with Ericsson

Maximising potential

In the coming years, all eyes will be on early 5G markets to see which consumer and enterprise usages are first to emerge and scale. In South Korea, where 5G technology was introduced in April 2019, more than three million subscriptions were collectively recorded by the country’s service providers by the end of September 2019. And by the end of 2020, they already have nine million subscribers each consuming 27GB of data per month, three times more than they consumed with 4G. South Korea is clearly one of the fastest-growing 5G markets in the world, and Ericsson is a proud supplier of the digital infrastructure.

SK Telecom (SKT) in South Korea is taking the customer experience to the next level with delivery of high data speeds and rich content in the areas of gaming, ultra-high definition video, and augmented and virtual reality, to name a few. By offering differentiated 5G services to consumers, SKT and Ericsson are maximising the potential of the technology.

With 5G, we are moving technological boundaries forward to create the biggest innovation platform ever. We will see new consumer and enterprise services, new cases for the digitalisation of industries and new business opportunities across all economic sectors. More than any “G” in the past, 5G is expected to have a significant impact on enterprises, and therefore socioeconomic development.

The technology is expected to help improve both products that companies develop and productivity and efficiency of operations. Through the combination of 5G and other emerging technologies, such as AI, automation, and big data, the process of digital transformation is expected to have a profound effect on the way enterprises do business.

Leading the market

The connection between an application, network platform, and terminals will continue to develop over the next few years so that we have increased flexibility and scale. This is a core part of ensuring open and seamless end-to-end interoperability. We will bring the eco-system closer and find new ways to collaborate and co-create. In this context, the work we are doing with Qualcomm and Nvidia at Ericsson D-15, our innovation testbed in Santa Clara, should be highlighted.

Ericsson D-15 is helping to develop and test new extended reality usages. We are trying to enable VR on mobile devices by doing most of the picture rendering in the network, not on the device. This makes it possible to realise mobile VR without needing a huge computer on your back or a cable attached to your device.

These cases are made possible with low-latency and high-speed 5G connectivity – which we are providing. D-15 was founded in early 2019 and since then it has become our flagship for ecosystem engagement, something which we see as being critical to unlocking the full potential of the 5G platform.

Ericsson recognises the need to lead the market in forging strategic 5G ecosystem partnerships that include cross-industry players, bringing them together with mobile service providers to deliver compelling digital transformation engagements and new revenue streams. As a trusted long-term strategic partner in Vietnam’s ICT industry, we have been working with such providers to ensure Vietnam is at the forefront of 5G developments, sharing our technical capabilities, market insights, and innovative thought leadership.

Coupled with Vietnam’s National Innovation Centre, the Vietnamese government’s investment in sustainably growing the nation’s startup ecosystem will contribute significantly to the country’s innovation capacity and establishment of a thriving digital economy, leveraging 5G as the critical national infrastructure and enabling digital platform. The launch of 5G in Vietnam is promoting the government’s vision of leveraging science, technology, and innovation in driving and creating the next wave of inclusive and sustainable socioeconomic development in Vietnam.

We join hands with the government and people of Vietnam with a common belief and trust that science, tech, innovation, investment, and entrepreneurship will create new industries and many new jobs, propelling Vietnam towards the goal of becoming a high middle-income economy by 2030 and a high income one by 2045.