Viettel pioneers in testing 4G services

The military-run telecoms group, Viettel, has become the first network operator in Viet Nam to allow its customers to use the fourth generation (4G) technology on a trial basis after seven months obtaining a licence for the test.

From May 12 to August 31, 240 mobile subscribers of Viettel in Ha Noi and HCM City will be provided with 4G USB devices to gain access to 4G services, the group said on Thursday.

The broadband of 4G technology is seven times higher than that of 3G technology, Viettel director Hoang Son said.

In September, the Ministry of Information and Communications granted five licences for testing 4G technology to Viettel, VNPT, CMC, FPT and VTC, who will have one or two years to assess the 4G technology and user requirements in Viet Nam.

IT summit to attract 300 industry leaders to Ha Noi

Some 300 domestic and foreign leaders in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector will gather at the Viet Nam ICT Summit in Ha Noi on June 9-10.

Truong Gia Binh, chairman of the Viet Nam Software Association (VINASA) and FPT Group, said leading ICT experts, both at home and abroad, would present speeches on the vision and strategy for ICT development.

The event will see the participation of Doctor Dan E Khoo, President of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA).

Also, reports which give an overview on the software and ICT sectors are expected to help businesses self-assess their visions and strategies, Binh said.

There will be three discussions on macro issues decisive to the target of lifting Viet Nam to become an ICT power.

Mobifone begins staff orientation for VIETPAY

Mobifone's Zone VI Mobile information centre launched an extensive orientation programme for the network operator's market development staff in charge of SIM VIETPAY.

The new SIM is a new Mobifone SIM version integrated with the VIETPAY Mobile application that allows retailers to perform top-up transactions for any mobile network.

This is the first round of the orientation to be delivered in nine provinces with the programme expected to continue in most Mobifone's centres and branches nation-wide.

In co-operation with Dong A Bank, Techcombank, BIDV, Vietcombank, VietinBank and Agribank, retailers may top-up their SIM VIETPAY accounts at will by simply using the SIM's Bank transfer menu or do the recharge automatically and free of charge at the bank's teller counter.

Electronic wallet Payoo connects with FPT, Viettel

Customers of FPT Telecom and Viettel Telecom now can pay fees through Payoo electronic wallet.

Any banking account that can connect with Payoo can pay post-paid telephone or ADSL grid through the website www.paybill.com.vn.

An expanded automatic payment service is necessary for providers.

Payoo is a safe way to pay fees via an electronic wallet. Customers do not need to provide their own banking accounts.

VNPT improves speed of FiberVNN, MegaVNN

The Viet Nam Post and Telecommunications Corporation (VNPT) has decided to accelerate the speed for the fiber optic cable internet FiberVNN and ADSL service MegaVNN.

Since May, the maximum access for FiberVNN has been targeted to reach 100Mbps while the minimum speed has already increased from 512Kbps to 2Mbps, depending on the package. MegaVNN speed was accelerated from 2.56Kbps up to 10Mbps.

For the last five years, VNPT has spent US$5 billion to expand fiber optic cable throughout the country.

BKAV provides electronic tax enumeration service

The Bach Khoa Anti-Virus Centre (BKAV) has become one of two enterprises allowed by the Ministry of Finance to be electronic tax enumeration service providers.

The service should reduce the amount of paperwork for tax authorities.

The Ministry of Finance plans that till 2012 there would be 350,000 enterprises filing their taxes online and most of the transactions would be carried out through providers like BKAV.

Malicious activities on the increase, says Symantec

Viet Nam's malicious activities were on the increase last year, said Symantec Corp on Thursday in its Internet Security Threat Report.

A country overview on bot-infected computers showed Viet Nam to be ranked 45th last year compared with the 51st in the previous year, the report said.

The increase in the global ranking of bot-infected computers for Viet Nam was due to the number of internet users increasing quickly in recent years, said Raymond Goh, Symantec's regional technical director, adding that more internet users mean a higher ability of bot-infected computers.

Viettel increases 3G coverage in Mekong Delta

Vietnam military-run telecom firm Viettel has installed 1,100 3G more base transceiver stations (BTS) in 13 provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta, up 48 percent against the current number of BTSs there.

With nearly 7,100 2G and 3G BTS, Viettel will continue to gain the largest number of BTS in the region, according to newswire Vneconomy.

Its average ratio of 3G BTS compared with 2G BTS in this area reached 87 percent, higher than the country's average ratio of 65 percent. Of which, the regional hub, Can Tho City, reached the highest ratio of 95 percent.

While the number of 2G BTS in the Mekong Delta accounted for 14 percent of Viettel's total BTS nationwide, the number of 3G BTS accounted for nearly 20 percent. The region accounts for 20 percent of the population and 12 percent in terms of land area out of the country's eight key economic zones,.

Additionally, along with increasing the capacity of 3G networks, Viettel has previously brought optical cable accessibility to all regional districts.

This group said the increase of 3G coverage in the region is one of the priority policies of Viettel to provide basic telecommunication services, especially wireless broadband Internet services in this region.

PV