Vietnam's three major operators reach 5G RAN equipment sharing agreement

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Vietnam’s three largest operators, Viettel, VNPT and Mobifone, have expanded their network sharing agreement to cover 5G radio access network (RAN) equipment.

The previous agreement covered infrastructure including base stations, antennas and towers, Vietnam News Agency reported, adding that the 5G agreement also includes roaming and testing.

Sharing becomes even more important as Vietnamese operators are reportedly planning to use millimeter wave spectrum, which will require more base stations due to the limited coverage of millimeter wave spectrum.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communications recently asked operators to draw up plans to share 5G infrastructure and said it would issue the necessary regulations.

At the end of May this year, Vietnamese operators deployed commercial 5G services and trials in six cities and provinces, with average data transmission rates between 500Mbps and 600Mbps.

In June 2020, the three operators and Gtel Mobile agreed to share about 1,200 base stations and jointly deploy towers to reduce costs and prepare for 5G.