Even as Vietnam becomes increasing connected by mobile devices, don’t expect 4G service any time soon. According to Vietnam News, the government wants to maximize the existing investments made by telecom companies.
The big-3 local telecoms - Viettel, Mobifone and Vinafone - are hesitant to upgrade to 4G technology since they’ve recently invested so much in 3G infrastructure. Le Nam Thang, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications said:
“The Ministry of Information and Communications will not license such services in the new future in order to foster the investment efficiency of the country’s 3G mobile services. 3G service providers have pumped thousands of billions of VND in their infrastructure for over three years but only 10% of the capacity has been used.”
Beyond that, it doesn’t seem like the mass is there to justify the upgrade - of Vietnam’s 123 million mobile phone subscribers, only 16 million are using 3G service. However, this doesn’t mean that 3G users are content:
“A joint study by Nielsen and local newspapers in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, revealed that 55 percent of respondents were satisfied with the 3G quality in 2012, which is down from 64 percent in 2011.”
Instead of upgrading the network for a few people who already have internet access on their phones, we’d like to see this plan completed first.
