MobiFone's staff install equipment preparing for the launch of the 5G commercial pilot in HCM City next month. — Photo courtesy of MobiFone

HÀ NỘI — MobiFone is making final preparations for the launch of the commercial pilot of the fifth-generation (5G) network next month.

The Ministry of Information Technology and Communications allowed the carrier to launch the 5G commercial pilot in HCM City.

MobiFone has been rushing to install equipment and preparing technical, human resources and locations for the launch of 5G on the broadband of 2,600MHz with a scale of 50 sites in HCM City.

It negotiated and co-ordinated with leading 5G network terminal equipment providers to prepare the best conditions for customer experience.

MobiFone’s subscribers would join in the launch at central areas with a high number of visitors. It is expected that MobiFone would provide high speed internet services such as video in 4K, 8K, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) games, artificial intelligence (AI) learning and Internet of Things (IoT) service.

The 5G commercial pilot aimed to evaluate the ability of MobiFone’s network before the official launch nationwide.

MobiFone said they had been focusing on the 5G launch but also ensure quality of their 2G/3G/4G services.

The number of 5G subscriptions could hit 6.3 million or 6 per cent of total mobile subscriptions by 2025, according to a forecast from technology conglomerate Cisco.

5G is said to offer speeds 100 times faster than 4G and support new applications like remote medical procedures and autonomous driving.

Earlier, Minister of Information and Communication Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng said Việt Nam aimed to roll out the 5G network more widely in 2021 through producing 5G devices with good quality and reasonable prices. Developing a 5G network would be one of the key directions on improving the capacity of digital infrastructure for national digital transformation.

Denis Brunetti, president of Ericsson Việt Nam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, said that 5G would change all industries such as manufacturing, agriculture, and healthcare drastically thanks to the presence of robots and 5G information transmission systems. He believed that Việt Nam had the essentials to develop science and information technology. — VNS