Sweden’s Ericsson advances 5G collaboration with Vietnam telcos Viettel, MobiFone

Swedish giant Ericsson is furthering 5G cooperation with Vietnamese telecom heavyweights Vietttel and MobiFone with the establishment of a new innovation hub and expanded deployment of RAN (Radio Access Network).

In a Wednesday statement, Ericsson said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with MobiFone on establishing a 5G Innovation Hub at the latter’s premises in Vietnam.

The hub will showcase innovative uses of 5G technology that demonstrate its potential to consumers and enterprises. It will feature advanced, state of the art equipment and interactive displays.

The hub will also function as a co-creation space featuring state-of-the-art 5G sandbox network. It will be utilized to develop new functions in collaboration with partners in Vietnam and other parts of the globe.

Ericsson and MobiFone will promote the 5G Innovation Hub as a dynamic innovation environment for consumers and enterprises. It will also support research & development (R&D) projects.

Ericsson will share with MobiFone its global experience in 5G commercial application and support the latter with design consultancy and service experience solutions.

Previously, in a Monday statement, the Swedish firm had noted that military-run Viettel had awarded a majority of its nationwide 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) deployment work to Ericsson, strengthening the long-term partnership between the two sides.

The extended collaboration will include Ericsson modernizing its 4G network for Viettel.

Ericsson and Viettel have also signed an MoU to promote 5G adoption in Vietnam. They will collaborate on developing innovative 5G uses as well as creating a robust developer ecosystem in Vietnam to build secure, reliable and innovative 5G-powered applications.

Both sides will focus on key areas such as 5G network slicing to provide differentiated connectivity, developer enablement via network APIs, and knowledge exchange on emerging technologies, Ericsson said.