5G Technology to Be Backbone of Digital Economy

11:21:15 AM | 4/5/2019

5G technology is outstandingly featured by broadband, high speed, high wireless communication connection density, low latency and fast response, which are the cornerstones of the digital economy.

Great opportunity for organizations and businesses


The digital economy, coupled with new business models and methods, is creating great opportunities for organizations and businesses. 5G along with other technologies not only helps individuals access information faster to serve living and entertaining needs, but also inspires people to be more innovative and creative. Businesses regardless of scale, from micro entity to multinational corporation, will earn more profit when applying 5G technology.

At the ASEAN Conference on 5G Mobile Communication Network Development, which took place at the end of March in Hanoi, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung affirmed that new disruptive technologies will enable better connected supply chains and more efficient distribution, while reducing logistics and transaction costs. Online exchanges will create opportunities to expand markets and reduce business costs. Earlier at the Vietnam Innovation Conference, which took place in mid-November 2018, the Minister of Information and Communications also emphasized: "5G technology is an opportunity for us to change our rankings. If you want to change our standings, we have to take the lead.”

In addition, 5G network is not only an opportunity for connecting services, and an opportunity for changing our networking rankings, but also an opportunity to develop the country's information technology industry. Vietnam's telecommunications market also needs new factors to compete and develop and to make new breakthroughs.

In fact, 5G is not merely a voice and data connectivity like 4G technology, but it will be applied to many different economic sectors. This new technology will create a strong push for the economy. Particularly in the agricultural sector, when the 5G network is available, Vietnam has the opportunity to switch from the old production model to the new one with outstanding production capacity.

Furthermore, 5G also makes people more creative and stays at the center of sustainable development. At the same time, businesses can also apply technology to bring great opportunities. 5G is expected to become the innovation factor and develop X-Tech such as Fintech, Agritech and Edutech to make disruptive changes in other economic sectors.

Priority for ASEAN ICT cooperation

Determined that Vietnam will also be among the first countries to deploy 5G as soon as the world launches it, right from the beginning of 2019, the Ministry of Information and Communications has started frequency licensing for enterprises to test 5G in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam is currently focusing on developing technology firms and manufacturers of IoT devices, telecom equipment, 5G chipsets, surveillance cameras and other gadgets.

Major Vietnamese carriers such as Viettel, MobiFone and VNPT have also started to deploy infrastructure and technical facilities for 5G network. In fact, Viettel established a 5G technology development research group in 2015.

At the ASEAN Conference on 5G Mobile Communication Network Development held in Hanoi in late March, Minister Nguyen Manh Hung emphasized that ASEAN will regard 5G as a No. 1 priority in ICT cooperation in the coming years. Also according to the Minister of Information and Communications, Vietnam is willing to cooperate with other ASEAN member countries to launch 5G and promote digital transformation. The ASEAN Conference on 5G Mobile Communication Network Development was also the first conference as ASEAN countries are joining together for the spirit of working together and developing together. ASEAN countries will work together to discuss the roadmap for a new technology.
However, 5G also poses many future challenges to countries in the region, including Vietnam. Governments, telecom operators or technology companies will face many problems, including managing millions of connected devices. Besides, it is necessary to ensure cyber information security and the safety of network operations to transform into a digital economy.

In addition, one of the major challenges is that 5G requires broadband and high-speed telecom infrastructure. This is a great difficulty for countries with underdeveloped infrastructure systems like Vietnam.

What's more, according to Mr. Vu The Binh, Vice President of the Vietnam Internet Association, investment in telecom networks, especially 5G, is for financially strong companies. Small telecom businesses will face a lot of challenges and difficulties.

In order to deal with these difficulties and realize the goal of becoming one of the first countries in the world to deploy 5G, Vietnam is willing to cooperate with ASEAN countries to establish joint ventures and ICT product manufacturing factories. At the same time, the country is willing to open and share all technological know-how with other countries so that all members can master equipment to ensure national cybersecurity.

Thu Ha