Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) is planning for the auction frequencies of 5G in November 2023, and it is expected that the first series of licenses for 5G deployment will be granted by the end of 2023.
Following Vietnam’s regulations, the auction frequencies are a prerequisite for the 5G commercialization, and the MIC aims to initiate the auctions soon in order to facilitate the implementation of other new technologies. The plan has been discussed for years; however, in 2019, the MIC announced that it had to postpone the plan until July 2023, the time that the amended Law on Frequencies would be enacted.
Since then, the Ministry drafted and released Decree 63 to manage the scheduling and administration of frequency auctions. These regulations paved the way for the first auction which is scheduled for November 2023.
After the auction, the MIC will be able to grant 5G frequency right by the year end, so that telecom providers can start deploying the technology in 2024. Besides, Vietnam is also preparing to manufacture 5G telecom equipment, with Viettel being the first domestic company that is able to produce 5G equipment, now in the final testing phase. The MIC, therefore, hopes that it can soon grant the certificates for meeting Vietnamese standards to Viettel.
The Ministry has recently signed a decision on defining the fees from wavebands so as to activate the process of auctioning for the right to use frequencies for 4G and 5G. Specifically, the 700 MHz wavebands (703-733 MHz and 758-788 MHz), 2600 MHz (2500-2600 MHz), and 3700 MHz (3560-4000 MHz) will be put into auction.
With the auction for the right to use frequencies 700 MHz, 2600 MHz, and 3700 MHz wavebands, Vietnam will have 500 MHz more bandwidth (both low-band and mid-band) to deploy both 4G and 5G technologies.
(Source: Vietnamnet )
