Vietnam is predicted to become one of the next big players in the telecommunications market, with a population of almost 100 million and a growing economy overall. According to Mordor Intelligence, the Vietnamese telecom market is expected to record a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.21% over the next five years.
As a testament to such growth, major telecom companies in the country, including Vietnamobile, Viettel, EVNTelecom and AT&T, consistently promote innovation through Research and Development (R&D) investments.
Customers' increasing demand for high-speed connectivity services and the rapid growth in spending on the deployment of 5G infrastructure ultimately influence the development of the Vietnam telecom market. Likewise, the continuous adoption of mobile phones that support 3G, 4G and 5G services across the country adds to this demand.
Vietnam's telecommunications market was valued at $6.3 billion in 2021. Importantly, the information and communication technology (ICT) sector, which includes the aforementioned telecommunications industry, is thought to have accounted for as much as 8.02% of Vietnam's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022.
Vietnam Telecommunication Landscape
Following the issuance of Instruction No. 52 by the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) in 2019, several telecom carriers have entered into cooperation agreements to share telecom infrastructure. It is believed that this trend will intensify with the widespread implementation of 5G technology.
During the World Mobile Broadband and ICT Summit 2022, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Pham Duc Long announced that the MIC plans to master broadband infrastructure, 5G equipment infrastructure and made-in-Vietnam technology platforms.
Additionally, a representative from one of the leading mobile network operators in Vietnam said that they have engaged in infrastructure sharing by utilizing around 4,000 base transceiver stations (BTS) from various telecommunications companies and an additional 13,400 BTS greenlighted by other investors. The mobile network operator conducted infrastructure sharing across all 63 cities and provinces in Vietnam, with the highest concentration of shared items in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and Dong Nai.
Meanwhile, Viettel has shared approximately 1,000 BTS locations and poles, as well as 25,000 transmission optic cables. These shared resources are allocated in HCMC, Binh Dinh, Kon Tum, Hai Duong and Ha Giang.
Vietnam has been seeking to expand the telecommunications sector as well. In April 2023, MIC announced an auction for frequencies in the 2300-2400 MHz waveband, allowing operators to advance and strengthen their 4G and 5G technologies.
Such an industry commitment is not new. According to the 2021 statistics of the MIC's Authority of Telecommunications, for that year, Vietnam had 70.9 million mobile broadband subscribers, accounting for 57.23% of total mobile subscribers.
OpenGov Asia also previously reported that Vietnam is among the countries with the most affordable mobile internet. According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the fixed internet unit price per capita income of Vietnam is equal to about 41% of the world average. As per the statistics from 155 countries on the average mobile internet access fee for 1GB of data, Vietnam ranked 10th with $0.57/GB.
With the constant and significant transitions as well as the healthy competition in the telecommunications industry in Vietnam, the country's telecom market is looking more appealing for businesses. The improvements in Vietnam's telecommunications landscape are notably due to its awareness of consumer demands and the intricacies of the home market. In all, Vietnam offers a host of potential telecommunications options and solutions for a wide variety of sectors, businesses and organizations.
