In the press conference, Deputy Head Nguyen Phong Nha of the Telecoms Authority (under the Ministry of Information and Communications) reported that until September 2023, there were 15 million 2G subscribers in the country, who will be affected by the plan to phase out the 2G technology in Vietnam in September 2024.
“Many factors have contributed to the slow reduction of the number of 2G-Only subscribers among mobile network carriers, at only 1 percent per month. Each month, about 35,000 2G devices are still approved to connect to the network”, said Deputy Head Nha.
Therefore, the Authority of Telecommunications is working with businesses in the field so that no 2G-Only device can link to the existing networks after March 1, 2024, except those in the list of certified 2G devices by the Information and Communications Ministry. This means that simple 4G devices with basic functions for a longer battery life are in use as normal to answer the demands of those who only need to use their phone for calling or sending messages.
Besides helping network carriers to check and evaluate the current situation of 2G subscription, the Authority is considering other possible measures to aid people to change from 2G to 4G subscription smoothly.
As to the growth of the 5G network, after long time piloting the technology nationwide, Vietnam is witnessing a switch from conventional telecoms services to Over-the-Top (OTT) ones, meaning a higher demand on both data speed and quality.
Hence, in the first two years, telecoms are going to install 3,000 5G transceiver stations all over the country. This becomes the foundation to address data congestion issues in large cities, dense residential areas, as well as industrial parks. Since 5G technology offers higher speed and lower latency, network carriers are able to better serve the development needs of society.
Finally, Deputy Head Nha shared that 172 million mobile network subscribers in Vietnam have had their personal data standardized. However, as there are still scamming calls, the Telecoms Authority has proposed to the Information and Communications Ministry to stop developing new subscribers in certain agencies, which might lead to a drop of the proportion of subscribers by 30 percent.
The Telecoms Authority has also suggested the preparation of policies to allow network carriers to receive online registrations of new customers, which is supposed to obtain more precise personal data.
