Speaking at a seminar on solutions to develop chipset and 5G equipment, held on October 30, Ngo Hoang Anh, head of the Embedded Software Division of Vinsmart, said: “We are carrying out research and will manufacture 5G and IoT equipment.

“We are building a lab to support the research and development of 5G phones and 5G telecom equipment. It is expected that the first phone products will be launched in July 2020. In August 2020, we will begin experimenting with 5G equipment,” he said.

He went on to say that VInsmart is working with Cisco and Intel to develop 5G network equipment. The first 5G base transreceiver stations (BTS) are expected to undergo experiment by August 2020.

Vinsmart, a subsidiary of Vingroup, a conglomerate owned by the first Vietnamese dollar billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong, has unexpectedly stated it will manufacture 5G equipment and will try the first products by August 2020.

Vinsmart only produces equipment including smartphones so it does not have a band. The company has proposed that the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) grant frequency, so that it can test 5G stations.

In reply, the Radio Frequency Department said that it is willing to allocate frequency for Vinsmart to test 5G equipment. The representative of the department noted that telecommunications equipment manufacturers must meet the technical standards announced by Vietnam.

Tao Duc Thang, deputy CEO of Viettel, said Viettel has been joining forces with suppliers to carry out research to manufacture 5G equipment. This is not simply 5G transceiver stations, but it also core networks to support 5G and 5G terminals.

In 2015, Viettel set up a R&D team on 5G technology development and plans to complete the pilot version of 5G station version 1 by 2019, test the network of 5G stations by 2020, and be ready to commercialize products by 2021.

Meanwhile, a representative of VNPT, said VNPT will continue to be the operator pioneering in providing 5G mobile services to clients, as it did with 2G, 3G and 5G. He also said that the group began preparation for this soon after the concept of 5G was mentioned.

To deploy 5G successfully, telecom operators need a strong research force which can master and join the 5G ecosystem (from network, platform connecting and providing services, and applications on 5G to security).

VNPT has recently signed an agreement on cooperating with Nokia to set up a lab to carry out research on technology, solutions and applications in 5G.

Viettel, VNPT and Vinsmart have stated they will manufacture 5G equipment.

Mai Lan 

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