Vietnamese military-owned operator Viettel has launched a trial LTE-A service in parts of the Ba Ria-Vung Tau province.
The operator commenced a week-long trial of LTE services over the weekend using around 200 base stations, Tuoitrenews reported.
The LTE-A network delivered average real-world speeds of 40-80 Mbps on Saturday, with an average speed of up to 230Mbps in some locations.
Viettel is offering free 4G SIMs at four retail outlets and two supermarkets in the province, and has prepared around 10,000 free SIMs for the purpose.
According to Viettel general director Nguyen Viet Dung, the operator has is ready to offer the service commercially on a large scale immediately after receiving a license.
Customers will be allowed to retain their numbers when choosing to upgrade to 4G, but will need to switch SIMs. State-owned VNPT subsidiary Vinaphone by contrast will not require 3G customers to switch SIMs to take advantage of 4G.
Source: http://www.telecomasia.net/content/vietnams-viettel-launches-lte-trial