Viettel's international recognition marks Vietnam’s rise in global 5G innovation

The recognition underscores Viettel’s growing capability in developing advanced telecommunications infrastructure and strengthening its global competitiveness. The announcement was made during Open RAN Connect 2025, an international event hosted by Viettel in Hanoi.

The Gartner Magic Quadrant is one of the industry’s most respected evaluations of technology providers. Each year, Gartner – a world leader in IT research and consulting – analyses top global vendors of 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) infrastructure for telecom operators, ranking them by their Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute.

Photo: Viettel

In the telecommunications infrastructure domain, Viettel High Tech is the only Southeast Asian company recognised as a "Niche Player", underscoring its pioneering role in commercialising 5G Open RAN base stations built on ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) platforms, with proven large-scale deployments across Vietnam and the broader Southeast Asia region.

Vietnam’s fully domestic 5G ecosystem, from research and design to production and deployment, is a testament to the nation’s technological independence. Viettel’s 5G equipment is now widely deployed across its network, serving tens of millions of subscribers via Viettel’s core systems (EPC, 5G Core), millions of optical and Wi-Fi access devices, thousands of transmission systems, and large-scale billing (OCS) and IMS voice systems supporting more than 190 million global subscribers.

“Viettel is the world’s first operator to deploy 5G Open RAN with performance on par with leading global vendors,” said Nguyen Vu Ha, deputy CEO of Viettel Group. “We are committed to delivering the highest-quality products to serve mobile network operators worldwide.”

In 2025, Viettel is deploying 2,500 5G base stations across the provinces of Ninh Binh, Gia Lai, Lam Dong, Khanh Hoa, and Daklak in Vietnam. Designed according to international open standards, Viettel’s 5G products have also been introduced in India, the UAE, and Turkey.

Nguyen Minh Quang, general director of Viettel High Tech and Qualcomm representative at the Open RAN Connect 2025. Photo: Viettel

Field data confirms that Viettel’s 5G stations deliver superior coverage, higher capacity, and up to 24 per cent greater energy efficiency than other comparable solutions.

Speaking at the event, Nguyen Khac Lich, director general of the Department of Information Technology Industry under the Ministry of Science and Technology, emphasised that 5G equipment is a strategic national technology product. Since 2019, the ministry has set a target for Vietnam to master the design, research, and production of 5G equipment as a symbol of technological self-reliance.

"Viettel’s adoption of the Open RAN approach reflects a strategic mindset of independence, technological openness, and proactive integration, demonstrating that Vietnamese engineers are capable of mastering some of the world’s most advanced technologies and bringing “Make in Vietnam” products to global markets," he said.

Looking ahead, Viettel will continue to advance 5G-Advanced, 6G, and fully virtualised network infrastructure, while maintaining openness and interoperability through ongoing integration and collaboration with other Open RAN partners within the O-RAN Alliance.

“Being listed in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant establishes a solid foundation for Viettel High Tech to expand its market presence and strengthen its global technology ecosystem,” said Nguyen Minh Quang, general director of Viettel High Tech.

“After more than a decade of investment and mastery in telecommunications infrastructure, the backbone of the national digital economy, Viettel’s recognition by a global authority such as Gartner marks a major milestone. It serves as a key enabler for Vietnam’s digital economy, digital society, and digital government, and as a cornerstone for the nation’s advancement in strategic technologies including AI, IoT, big data, blockchain, and semiconductors,” he noted.

Viettel High Tech is the research and high-tech manufacturing arm of Viettel Group. Its journey towards mastering 5G technology has been marked by the successful large-scale deployment of 5G Open RAN networks, supporting both 5G NSA (non-standalone) and 5G SA (standalone) configurations, alongside a complete end-to-end 5G ecosystem developed in-house.

Viettel’s 5G infrastructure portfolio includes 5G Open RAN 32T32R Massive MIMO base stations using ASIC chipsets (Qualcomm X100, QRU), 5G core networks, 5G transport devices, a wide range of Macrocell (8T8R) and Small Cell (4T4R) base stations, and private 5G network systems for specialised applications such as defence, seaports, and industrial facilities, providing operators with diverse options to meet various deployment needs.

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