VietNamNet Bridge – While 3G networks still cannot satisfy users’ broadband demand, and 4G-LTE is still in the “future tense,” some telcos are considering launching Internet wifi services, predicting that the market would heat up in the time to come.

In 2005, FPT Telecom began developing the project on providing free Wi-Fi services to buildings, restaurants, cafes. The mobile network operator once had 10,000 Wi-Fi accessible points.

However, the project was stopped in 2008, when laptops were the main devices used to access Wi-Fi. Meanwhile, the solution only provided indoor services, mostly installed at public points (cafes, for example). Users did not have the habit of enter usernames and passwords, while they wanted automatic log in.

However, things have got quite different after four years. The number of devices allowing users to access Wi-Fi in Vietnam has been increasing rapidly. According to GfK Vietnam, the number of laptops sold in Vietnam in 2011 was 38 percent higher than in 2010, while the figure is expected to increase further by 17 percent in 2012.

Moreover, the sales of smart phones in 2011 accounted for 32.2 percent of the total value of the mobile phone products sold in Vietnam. The country also witnesses the boom of the tablet market, where people just need to spend 1.5 million dong to possess a tablet.

This has prompted mobile network operators to kick start Internet Wi-Fi projects. By the end of February 2012, the Quang Nam provincial Department of Information and Communication joined forces with VDC and Quang Nam Telecom to install 350 Wi-Fi transceiver stations in the city.

On May 2, 2012, Internet Wi-Fi developed by VNPT Group was launched in Ha Long City, which is expected to cover all the towns, communes and cities of the Quang Ninh province by 2015.

Prior to that, in late 2011, One wireless - a wireless Internet service – and prepaid Internet Wi-Fi of NetNam was marketed in Hanoi and some other localities.

By September 2012, NetNam had had some 2500-3000 Internet Wi-Fi subscribers from 15 universities. Vu The Binh, General Director of NetNam, said the breakeven point for the Internet Wi-Fi project would come in one or two years.

Explaining the returning of Internet Wi-Fi services, Binh attributed to the development of 3G network, the rapid increases of the number of smart phones, tablets and laptops, and the higher demand for data capacity which has led to the high demanded broadband capacity which the 3G network still cannot meet.

The Wi-Fi technology nowadays allows Wi-Fi wave to cover larger areas and reach out to remote areas. Therefore, experts say, Wi-Fi seems to be a compulsory choice in the pre-4G LTE period. Meanwhile, experts believe that Vietnam would only think of developing 4G after three or four years.

There are many ways to make money with Wi-Fi services

According to Binh, since Internet service fees have become so cheap that café and offices do not collect money from users, it would be difficult for telcos to make investment in a large scale. Therefore, telcos believe that it would be better to gather strength to provide services in some specific areas.

The companies, with the self modified open source software pieces and self-built Wi-Fi system depending on the conditions instead of using the existing systems of HP or Cisco, believe that they can save the investment costs, while they still can provide high quality services.

An executive of FPT Telecom said the company is considering launching Internet Wi-Fi. If the company launches the service, it would focus on some crowded places, where people have to stay for long time, such as hotels, hospitals and apartment blocks.

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