Viettel said it will deploy more than 300 sites across various Vietnamese provinces by the first quarter of 2025
Vietnamese telco Viettel announced the commercial launch of its Open RAN (O-RAN) 5G network using a platform provided by Qualcomm Technologies, the company said in a release.
The telco claimed that this is the first O-RAN 5G network utilizing Qualcomm Technologies’ 5G RAN platforms. Viettel said it will deploy over 300 sites across various Vietnamese provinces by the first quarter of 2025, with the potential for thousands more as part of nationwide and international expansion plans in 2025 and beyond, said Viettel.
The deployment utilizes Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Platform for vDUs, Qualcomm QRU100 5G RAN platform for Massive MIMO radio units and integrates the Qualcomm Edgewise Suite for premium RAN management.
The initial O-RAN infrastructure was deployed in Ha Noi and Ha Nam provinces, the Asian telco said.
Viettel’s distributed units (DUs) use inline accelerators to offload compute-intensive baseband tasks like Massive MIMO processing from DU servers. This approach reduces capital expenditure by requiring fewer CPU cores and enhancing power efficiency, the carrier added.
Viettel’s DU utilizes the Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card and the RU utilizes the Qualcomm QRU100 5G RAN platform. Beyond the DU and RU, this collaboration includes the development of premium RAN automation, management and orchestration solutions, according to the Vietnamese telco.
With this 5G Open RAN commercialization, the carrier said it completes its end-to-end 5G product suite, covering everything from core networks to RAN elements. This solution addresses both public and private network demands, while the Massive MIMO DUs and RUs of this commercial network are fully compliant with O-RAN standards, as defined by the O-RAN Alliance.
“Viettel’s 5G Open RAN solutions have achieved commercial-grade maturity after an intensive development process and rigorous testing,” said Nguyen Vu Ha, CEO of Viettel High Tech. “Qualcomm Technologies has been a pivotal collaborator in our journey toward 5G commercialization, making substantial contributions that accelerate our network deployment in Vietnam.”
Finnish vendor Nokia recently announced that it had signed a new commercial deal with Viettel Group to deploy 5G equipment for the first time nationwide in Vietnam.
Nokia had stated that the new contract will lead to the deployment of 5G for the first time at a nationwide level in Vietnam.
The 5G project will cover 22 provinces across the country and support Viettel’s strategy of advancing 5G infrastructure and digital transformation, Nokia said.
Under the terms of the deal, Nokia will also modernize Viettel’s 4G infrastructure. The deployment is expected to begin this year.
The contract stipulates that Nokia will supply equipment from its 5G AirScale portfolio for the first time in Vietnam. This includes Nokia’s next-generation AirScale baseband solutions, Massive MIMO radios, and remote radio head products.
In October, Viettel launched what it claimed to be Vietnam’s first commercial 5G service.
The company has also said it has installed over 6,500 base stations to provide 5G services to all 63 localities in Vietnam, focusing in particular on tourism sites, seaports, airports, industrial parks, hospitals and schools.
The telco noted that the new 5G service can offer connection speeds of up to 1 Gbps, with nearly zero ping. Viettel is deploying the 5G service using both Standalone (SA) and Non-Standalone (NSA) architectures.
For business customers, Viettel said its new 5G network will provide a total of 130 use case options for industrial production, smart city, logistics-transport, agriculture, healthcare, education and energy sectors, integrated with cloud, artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies.
