Vietnamese incumbent telco VNPT called for a 5G platform-based approach to developing sustainable digital and IoT ecosystems in Vietnam, and called on the government to enact policies to nurture that ecosystem.
Speaking at the 5th National Forum on Developing Vietnam Digital Technology Enterprises in Quang Ninh on Monday, Ly Quoc Chinh, deputy general director of VNPT Technology, noted that 5G isn’t just about superfast connectivity for smartphones – it also encompasses other technologies and use cases like IoT, cloud, big data and AI, all of which can be used to create new apps for businesses.
However, while enterprises can go the 5G route via private networks, Ly argued that enterprises should leverage 5G carrier platforms (such as, say, VNPT’s), which would be more conducive to building up an ecosystem of 5G-based apps for IoT and digital use cases.
“If businesses go their own way, they will create fragmented applications with no competitive advantage in scale, wasting resources,” he said. “Therefore, businesses need to create an ecosystem of applications on the 5G platform.”
Ly added that VNPT’s strategy to transform into a digital services provider involves building infrastructure and technology platforms with which it can partner with the technology community to build sustainable development ecosystems.
VNPT's mobile arm Vinaphone has been trialling 5G since 2019 via a trial licence, as has rival operators Viettel and Mobifone. However, plans for auctioning 5G spectrum and launching commercial 5G services have been repeatedly pushed back. The latest plan calls for 5G services to be commercially launched sometime early next year.
During his talk, Ly also urged the government to adopt several policies to help develop a sustainable IoT industry, starting with a “synchronous training strategy to restructure human resources in accordance with the specific goals of each vertical industry.”
For the IoT ecosystem specifically, Ly also recommended the government support businesses in the electronics and telecoms sectors in researching and developing IoT devices, including part design and manufacture of semiconductor chips, sensors and embedded devices.
Ly also called on the Vietnamese government to issue specific policy mechanisms to help large enterprises and technology corporations in Vietnam invest to develop and operate digital service ecosystems to serve the government’s ambitions of becoming a fully digital economy by 2030.