Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam's telecom companies on March 7entered a bidding race over the rights to develop and exploit thecountry's 5G 2500-2600 MHz band for the next 15 years. 

The band, officially designated as B1 during the bidding, had astarting price of 3.9 trillion VND (158 million USD).

Speaking at the event, Deputy Minister of Information andCommunications Nguyen Huy Dung said the bidding is a historic day forthe telecom sector and the commercialisation of 5G in Vietnam.

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung saidthe ministry's 5G policy remained open, allowing all eligible enterprises toparticipate in the auction, not just mobile network providers offering new 5Gservices. In the event a business wins a bid for the 5G frequency, it willsubsequently be granted a licence to provide mobile services.

While any company could participate in the 5G frequency auction,industry experts said it would be extremely challenging for new players toenter the 5G game, and it was almost a given that the winners would be amongthe existing mobile service providers. 

It is expected that new players must invest up to 1 billion USD innetwork infrastructure to make use of 5G technologies. It is said to be veryunlikely as the country's mobile market has long reached saturation. Inaddition, voice calls and SMSs, traditionally strong sources of income fortelecom companies, have been on the decline.

In recent years, telecom companies have reported dwindling profitsas the market sees increasingly fierce competition, which has discouraged newplayers from joining. 

In an earlier interview with the press, Hung said the MIC hadpicked this year to roll out the commercialisation of 5G nationwide. Hestressed the importance of 5G, citing China Mobile as a successful example ofan early adopter of the technology. The group, after investing nearly 4 billionUSD in developing 5G and creating more than 30,000 industrial-use applications,had reported over 10 per cent growth in annual revenue.

For example, factory workers in China had started using 5G-enabledcameras equipped with SIM cards to capture images of standard circuit boards,which were then sent to data centres for AI analysis to identify faultycomponents. This simple and elegant solution had both enhanced efficiency andcontributed to improved accuracy and productivity. 

Hung said while a 10% growth rate in revenue could not beaccomplished without 5G, the technology must be developed into an ecosystem torealise its full potential.

According to the MIC, Vietnam has set a target to provide 5Gcoverage to 99% of the country's residents by the year 2025 at 100 Mbpsspeed.

Representatives from Ericsson Vietnam said 5G could be seen as acomplete digital infrastructure, which could replace physical infrastructure inthe future. 5G digital infrastructure not only could connect people to people,but also people to machines, and machines to machines. 

Nguyen Van Son, Director of Viettel Telecom's Mobile Centre, saidthat while there was a high demand for 5G among the population, the number ofdevices supporting 5G still remained low, accounting for only 17-20%. He saidthat given the circumstances, Viettel had plans to deploy 5G in areas with highdemand and a high percentage of 5G-compatible phones, which includes industrialzones, export processing zones and innovation centres.

Two other 5G bands, 3700-3800 MHz (C2) and 3800-3900 MHz(C3), both with a starting price of 1.89 trillion VND are next to go up forauction on March 14 and March 19./.