Ministry of Science and Technology: Improving communication capacity in the context of complex natural disasters

Responding to questions about the situation of "no signal, white signal, and low signal" in the recent major floods, Mr. Nguyen Anh Cuong, Deputy Director of the Telecommunications Department, said that recently, the Ministry of Science and Technology as well as the Telecommunications Department have proactively advised on the issuance of many procedures and criteria related to natural disaster prevention and control, search and rescue, and coordination mechanisms with telecommunications enterprises.

After Typhoon Yagi in late 2024, the Ministry of Information and Communications (now the Ministry of Science and Technology) issued a set of criteria to determine requirements for telecommunications works to ensure the ability to respond to natural disasters and catastrophes. These regulations continued to be specified in Circular 14 issued in 2025, clearly defining the rights and responsibilities of the parties, along with the coordination mechanism between telecommunications enterprises and management agencies.

During the recent storms and floods, telecommunications companies have activated a series of contingency measures such as: Roaming between networks to maintain communication; proactively sending warning messages as required by management agencies; deploying incident response plans according to established scenarios. Thanks to that, the network in most affected areas was restored in just 1-3 days, without any prolonged interruption.

In addition, telecommunications companies also opened their headquarters and stations with generators for people to charge their phones; brought mobile BTS stations and backup generators to evacuation points to support information connection during emergencies.

"We always try to build scenarios and operating regulations to minimize the impact of natural disasters on TTLL," emphasized a representative of the Telecommunications Department.

Responding to questions about the progress of licensing Starlink services in Vietnam, a representative of the Department of Telecommunications said that Starlink's application has reached its final stages. After receiving the application, the Department consulted with relevant ministries and branches, including the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of National Defense.

Some clarifications have been sent back to Starlink and the company is expected to resubmit its application for a license this week. The Telecommunications Department said it will try to review and grant the license as soon as possible.

The leader of the Telecommunications Department added that due to their wide coverage, satellite internet services such as Starlink can play a complementary role to fixed and mobile terrestrial telecommunications services of domestic network operators, especially in remote, border and island areas; especially in natural disasters and catastrophes when terrestrial telecommunications infrastructure is affected.

More importantly, this can be an effective supplementary channel to backup transmission connections between BTS stations to serve rescue and restore communication during storms and floods.

Regarding the proposal to support rescue maps developed by student groups and volunteers during the flood season, the Telecommunications Department acknowledged the community's creativity and initiative. However, this is an area under the specialized management system of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment. The Telecommunications Department said it is ready to coordinate and connect businesses and initiative groups with management agencies to consider the possibility of putting these platforms into practical application.

Regarding this issue, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Bui Hoang Phuong noted a number of points. According to Mr. Phuong, although the construction of flood information maps is under the functions of other ministries and branches, the Telecommunications Department still needs to direct telecommunications enterprises to proactively coordinate when necessary.

In particular, it is necessary to avoid the situation where inaccurate or misleading maps are spread, causing danger and negative impacts on command, rescue and relief operations, especially when people rely on this information to respond on their own.

The Telecommunications Department needs to work with businesses to study the possibility of connecting, sharing or authenticating data with the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and relevant agencies, in order to contribute to ensuring safety for rescue work and supporting people in natural disasters.

The Deputy Minister affirmed that the Ministry of Science and Technology will continue to closely coordinate with ministries, branches and telecommunications enterprises to improve the effectiveness of natural disaster response, ensure smooth communication and protect people's safety.

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