The Viettel Military Industry and Telecoms Group officially launched the 5G network on October 15, becoming the first to officially provide this service in Vietnam.

Indonesia’s anti-corruption court on November 8 sentenced former Minister of Communications and Information Technology Johnny Gerard Plate to 15 years in prison over a corruption case relating to an Internet infrastructure development project in remote areas.

Experts forecast despite being relatively new in Vietnam, network sharing efforts would accelerate as the Government seeks to streamline network deployments and slash capital spending.

Four mobile network operators of Viettel, Vinaphone, MobiFone and Gtel signed an agreement in Hanoi on June 10 to share about 1,200 base transceiver stations (BTS).

Star Telecom (Unitel), a joint venture between the Viettel Military Industry and Telecoms Group and Lao Asia Telecom, held a ceremony on October 23 to mark 10 years since they started offering telecommunications services in Laos.

The military-run Viettel is among only 50 telecom companies in the world to successfully deploy the narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT), a technology developed for devices supporting IoT connectivity.

Military-run telecom group Viettel has been honoured as the fastest mobile network in Vietnam in the first half of this year.

Leading mobile phone service providers Viettel and MobiFone have said they are ready to cope with the expected rush during the Lunar New Year (Tet).

Next year could be just a starting year for the implementation of 4G services in Vietnam, and there may not be a boom in the market in this regard.

Viettel Group is going to pilot 4G technology in October, said Do Minh Phuong, deputy general director of the Viettel Group.