Viettel's unprecedented lightning fast 4G roll-out

Viettel’s 4G roll-out drive is considered unprecedented as it usually takes a telecoms company at least ten years to fully complete installing the total number of stations required for a telecoms network.

Photo for Illustration.

Deputy General Director of Viettel Corporation Tao Duc Thang said the company has dispatched 1,500 three-man teams to install 4G stations throughout the country and is trying to complete the infrastructure set-up by April 10, five days earlier than the initial plan.

After nearly six months, Viettel has completed installing more than 36,000 stations providing an extensive 4G network, similar to what it achieved with the 2G network and even larger than the company’s current 3G network with 35,000 stations. This remarkable pace has yet to be seen elsewhere in the world.

For 3G, Viettel broke its own record by installing 10,000 stations in 365 days. And now the company has completed the installation of 1,000 4G stations each day, meaning the number of 4G stations installed in just a week equals to that of a year when it rolled out the 2G network.

Viettel’s 4G signals are now present in all provinces and cities in Vietnam, covering about 99% of all districts. In addition to provincial and district centres, Viettel has also brought 4G signal to many remote, mountainous and island communities.

Viettel General Director Nguyen Manh Hung said the company has set a target that by 2020 every Vietnamese citizen will have a smartphone to access the internet. In order to make 4G easily available for all, Viettel will take measures to make 4G costs cheaper than 3G as well as offer free access to a number of websites providing information on essential issues such as law, agriculture and healthcare.

(Source: NDO)