Finland’s Nokia, Vietnam’s Viettel to jointly deploy 5G equipment in Vietnam

Finnish giant Nokia and Vietnamese telecoms major Viettel will jointly deploy 5G equipment for the first time across Vietnam later this year, the former said on Monday.

The ambitious project will cover 22 provinces across the country and support Viettel’s strategy of advancing 5G infrastructure and digital transformation. The project will also see Nokia modernize Viettel’s 4G infrastructure, Nokia added.

Under the deal, Nokia will supply equipment from its industry-leading 5G AirScale portfolio for the first time in Vietnam, covering 2,500 sites. This includes Nokia's next-generation AirScale baseband solutions, Massive MIMO radios, and Remote Radio Head products. These are all powered by its energy-efficient ReefShark System-on-Chip technology and combine to provide superior coverage and capacity.

It marks the first 5G network in Vietnam where the deployed products have also been locally manufactured, highlighting Nokia’s commitment to the region.

In June, Nokia announced that it would collaborate with Foxconn to produce its 5G AirScale equipment at the latter’s factories in Vietnam’s northern province of Bac Giang. Per the partnership, Foxconn will manufacture Nokia's 5G AirScale equipment, including the latest AirScale Massive MIMO radio products.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communications has placed great importance on 5G as critical national infrastructure that will enable sustained socio-economic development through science, technology, and innovation. Digital economy is expected to contribute between 20% and 30% of Vietnam’s GDP by 2030.