Viettel must invest in digital infrastructure first, opening new growth space

On January 12, 1, Viettel held a military conference to deploy the 2024 plan.

End of 2023, Viettel reaching consolidated revenue of 172,5 trillion VND, growing by 5,4%. In 2023, Viettel continues to be the network operator with the best service quality in Vietnam according to Umlaut's assessment and is in the top 40 network operators with the best quality in the world. Viettel has deployed 5G testing with about 500 stations in 63 provinces and cities; and successfully converted 5,8 million 2G subscribers to 4G, reaching 109% of the plan, increasing the proportion of 4G subscribers to 80%.

In 2023, Viettel has successfully completed the pilot program to provide Mobile Money services with about 5 million customers, of which 73% of customers are in rural, mountainous, remote and border areas. islands, ensuring the correct orientation.

Viettel maintains its position as the most comprehensive digital ecosystem provider today with 6 foundation areas: Digital infrastructure, digital solutions, digital finance, digital content, network security and high-tech manufacturing. .

During the year, Viettel deployed many large data center infrastructures in Hanoi and City. Ho Chi Minh City, contributing to the development of the largest Cloud service ecosystem in the country.

Viettel's foreign revenue grew by 20,5%, maintaining a high growth rate for 7 consecutive years, 5 times higher than the industry average in the world.

In 2023, Viettel has completed research, production and extensive testing of the 5G product ecosystem in both hardware and software, bringing Vietnam into the top 5 first countries to master 5G technology.

The network must open up new development space

Speaking at the conference, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung said that 2023 is a difficult year globally. Telecommunications carriers barely grew, Viettel achieved revenue growth of 5,4%. This result is due to Viettel's efforts today, but also due to efforts and vision from many years ago, such as foreign investment, defense industry, digital technology...

However, Minister Nguyen Manh Hung said that if Viettel wants to maintain sustainable development, it must always have a foresight and invest in the future from today.

Regarding domestic telecommunications, according to the Minister, network operators have not yet had a breakthrough development, and have not seen strategic directions or strong strategic determination to open a new stage of development. Growth in recent years of network operators has been low, lower than GDP growth. Meanwhile, a new generation telecommunications network with good growth must be around 10%, and a satisfactory growth rate must also be above 5%.

Network operators have not found new growth space, while old space has run out of space, even declined. For example, traditional services such as voice and SMS, which once accounted for nearly 100% of the network's mobile revenue, will basically decrease to less than 10%. These traditional services of Viettel are still accounting for over 30%, so be prepared that it will drop below 10%. If new space is not opened soon, there will be no future.

The head of the information and communication industry emphasized that network operators have never had such important changes and such a great mission for the country's development. Never before have the fields of telecommunications, IT, and digital technology had such a decisive influence on the development of a country.

Emphasizing the concept of Vietnam's digital infrastructure including telecommunications infrastructure, IoT infrastructure, computing infrastructure, data infrastructure, infrastructure providing digital technology such as services and infrastructure-based digital platforms. Infrastructure, the Minister said that Vietnam's digital infrastructure must have super large capacity, super wide bandwidth, universal, sustainable, green, smart, open and safe. This infrastructure must be prioritized for investment, modernization and one step ahead to promote national digital transformation, digital economic development and digital society.

Continuing to mention the issue of 5G, Minister Nguyen Manh Hung emphasized that 2024 is the year of commercialization of 5G nationwide. So, let's plan for nationwide coverage in 2024, use 5G SA right away, without having to go through the intermediate stage of 4,5G. A network operator that wants to develop sustainably must invest 15-20% of revenue each year in the network. For Viettel, each year it must invest around 150.000 billion VND in the network. Viettel is about to launch 5G, so it must set a minimum speed target of 100Mpbs and an average speed of over 300Mbps. A mobile network of good quality, large capacity, deep home coverage, and high speed will have one broadcasting station for every 1.000 people. Viettel's mobile network only has 2.000 broadcasting station for every 1 people. Viettel's 50.000 broadcast locations do not ensure quality for mobile, especially 5G.

The Minister said that the 2024 theme of the Ministry of Information and Communications is "Universalization of digital infrastructure, creative digital applications to develop the digital economy - New driving force for economic growth and labor productivity". Digital economic development is most important in digital applications and digital transformation applications for industries. Network operators with infrastructure, technology, human resources and understanding of digital transformation must be the creators of digital transformation applications for industries. Over the past few years, we have left this to the industries to do on their own and therefore, the development of digital transformation and the digital economy has been very slow.

Developing digital applications for industries is also product creation, which is also Make in Vietnam. Network carriers and digital technology businesses must consider this as a research and development activity. The Minister for example, China Mobile spends up to 4 billion USD (about 3-4% of revenue) on research and development each year, so China Mobile has developed over 30.000 industrial 5G applications, and annual revenue is increasing. over 10%. Meanwhile, Vietnamese carriers are spending only 0,1% on research and development.

New opportunities for Viettel in the fields of AI and semiconductors

2024 is the first year Vietnam implements the national strategy on developing the semiconductor industry. Minister Nguyen Manh Hung said that the semiconductor industry and electronics industry are also opportunities for Viettel to transform from an industrial - telecommunications enterprise into a technology enterprise. Developing semiconductor technology is also an opportunity for Vietnam to rebuild the country's electronics industry, especially when this industry is entering the transition phase to AI electronics and IoT devices.

If Viettel wants to develop the semiconductor industry and electronics industry, it must have a bigger vision and greater determination. Must master to the point of researching chip production in their electronic devices. The electronics industry is three times larger than telecommunications. Big businesses have to look at the bigger, more difficult spaces and leave the smaller, easier spaces for others.

Affirming that 2024 is the year of strong application of artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual assistants, the Minister shared that Viettel should develop virtual assistants to help ministries and localities carry out difficult and difficult tasks. , wasting time transferred to AI, freeing people up for more interesting things.

The Minister proposed that Viettel must become a global corporation in digital technology, actively participating in the two biggest transformations of the century of humanity: digital transformation and green transformation. Viettel must go to the bottom level and develop source technology. To develop quickly and sustainably, Viettel must take digital technology as the basic production force, digital talent as the basic resource and digital innovation as the basic driving force.

“Viettel should be stronger in its strategic determinations, both to develop itself and to contribute to the development of the country. Always remember and be proud that Viettel is a national infrastructure enterprise, and especially, an enterprise that builds new infrastructure for the new development of the country, that is, architects. Viettel is also a Vietnamese industrial and technology enterprise. When working in industry and technology, always remember that 90% of people's livelihood is 10%, and only XNUMX% of the military.", Minister Nguyen Manh Hung said.

Under the direction of Minister Nguyen Manh Hung, Major General Tao Duc Thang, Chairman and General Director of Viettel Group, affirmed that Viettel will take on the country's major missions in developing digital infrastructure and transforming digital, green transformation... with the spirit of serving the country.