5G technology demonstrated for the first time in Vietnam

A 5G technology demonstration was held for the first time in Vietnam on July 12 under the cooperation of the Authority of Radio Frequency Management (the Ministry of Information and Communications) and the Ericsson Corporation.

Minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan controls a robotic arm in real time through the use of hand gestures and fingers at the 5G demonstration in Hanoi on July 12. (Credit: infonet.vn)
Minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan controls a robotic arm in real time through the use of hand gestures and fingers at the 5G demonstration in Hanoi on July 12. (Credit: infonet.vn)

At the conference, Minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan affirmed that the use of 5G is going to be an indispensable component of technological development in the near future.

In 2009, Vietnam witnessed the race of operators as they deployed 3G services. In 2016, the event that marked the information ministry officially licencing the deployment of 4G services, for local operators, marked a new development in Vietnam's mobile information system.

The deployment of these services contributes towards the development of information technology in all areas of social life. Currently, many cities and provinces across the nation are interested in the construction of intelligent cities, focusing on areas such as intelligent health, intelligent transportation and intelligent education.

Intelligent urbanisation is a focus that Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has directed the relevant ministries and agencies to implement. However, in order to promote the development of information technology in the industrial revolution 4.0, it is necessary to provide internet connections with high reliability, density and accuracy.

Minister Tuan emphasised that to meet the above target, accelerating the deployment of 5G technology in Vietnam is an urgent task. In the near future, the ministry will learn from the experience of other countries in developing mechanisms and policies to manage and support the deployment of 5G technology in Vietnam.

5G is considered as the foundation to maximise the potential of social networking, as 5G opens up new business markets for businesses, generating new revenue streams with different business models and usage patterns.

According to the experts, 5G new capacity is expressed in many aspects, such as high flexibility and low fuel consumption. It also has outstanding features, such as high capacity, high bandwidth, robust security, high reliability, fast data rates, low latency and lower equipment costs in comparison with previous technology generations.

Speaking about the trend of developing 5G technology in Vietnam, Doan Quang Hoan, head of the Authority of Radio Frequency Management, said that the three most important goals of 5G in the country are the continued expansion of super-broadband access, supporting access to internet connections with extremely high traffic and density, and ensuring connections with ultra-high reliability and extremely low latency. Currently, many 5G trials are underway in the labs of large technology corporations with the goal of bringing 5G into the market by 2020.

In giving his assessment of the estimated potential revenue of 5G worldwide to be about US$582 billion by 2026, general director of Ericsson Vietnam and Myanmar, Denis Brunetti, said that 5G contributes to the development of many important economic sectors, particularly the manufacturing and health sectors. He added that 5G will help to improve competitiveness and provide better opportunities for Vietnamese businesses, saying that the journey to 5G has started from all over the world.

At the event, Ericsson demonstrated a number of devices using 5G with breakthroughs in automation and signal transmission. One among them is a robotic arm that can be controlled in real time by the movement of hands and fingers. This is an application that can be used in the near future in such fields as remote surgeries, road accident management and unsafe situations for humans.

Ericsson also demonstrated the ability of 5G to support the streaming of 4K video images, with uninterrupted 4K video playback requiring a download speed of at least 15 Mbps. The 5G radio technology can support the transmission of 4K quality video to hundreds of viewers at the same time.