Hanoi Times – Vietnam is poised to deploy Third Generation (3G) mobile technology, which will ensure improved voice and high-speed date services, industry insiders said.
According to Phan Hoang Duc, a member of VNPT’s management board, Vietnam ’s telecom market witnessed an outstanding growth rate of some 30 percent in recent years, and 3G is where mobile development is headed.
“Vietnam ’s telecom market expects to reach a turnover of 6-7 billion US$ in 2010, which promises a huge market for mobile service providers.”
Duc said that with 3G, mobile operators in Vietnam would be able to provide more value-added services such as real time video telephone, video streaming and high speed internet.
“Some local mobile operators are preparing to propose that the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications implement 3G,” he said.
According to Hoang Ngoc Diep, Country Manager of Quacomm Indochina, the world’s leading provider of CDMA technology, 3G will be a milestone in Vietnam ’s mobile market as it will create advantages for the Vietnamese IT community.
He said that if mobile operators focused merely on gaining market shares, as they had done in the last three years, and neglected worldwide 3G development, they would lag behind.
However, Diep said that as investment in 3G was very expensive local operators should be cautious when planning to buy the technology.
He said mobile operators should avoid wasteful investments, especially in a context where most existing mobile operators were state-owned. Therefore, upgrading to 3G based within the existing infrastructure should be a priority.
“If you invest, say one half of a billion US$, but without fully using that technology, it is a very big waste. But if you invest 3 billion US$ and fully use the technology, benefiting the country, it is surely not a wasteful investment,” he said.
