Vietnam plans to roll out 4G LTE, world's fastest cellular network

Vietnam's government has planned to allow wireless carriers to start launching 4G LTE networks, the world’s latest and fastest mobile technology at the moment, either at the end of this year or early next year.

Doan Quang Hoan, chief of the government’s department of radio frequencies, told a conference in Hanoi on Friday that the 2.3GHz and 2.6GHz bands have already been assigned for 4G networks for quite a while.
However, these bands have not been used yet, news website Vietnamnet cited him as saying.

The rights to use these frequencies will be offered via a bidding process, Hoan added.

His department is also going to boost the use of the 900MHz band for either 3G or 4G services.
He said Vietnam is focusing on utilizing sub-1GHz bands at the moment, in order to make high speed mobile services accessible in not only big cities, but distant areas as well.

In fact, network operators in Vietnam are still reluctant to invest in high frequencies for their cellular services, mainly “refarming” frequencies used for 2G for newer generations of mobile technology, according to the news report.

Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group, for instance, is operating its 3G service on the 900MHz band.

A total of 360 operators have commercially launched LTE networks and service in 124 countries, according to data released last month by Global mobile Suppliers Association.

(Source: TNO)