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Vietnam to launch 4G mobile service in 2015

Xinhua, September 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

Vietnamese telecom service suppliers are set to launch 4G service within this year.

Viettel, a Vietnamese military-run telecom corporation, said on its website on Monday that it is investing to build 23,000 base transceiver stations, with 12,000 of them 4G, by the end of 2015.

According to a representative of Viettel, the 4G service will be launched in October. The 4G network will first offer services in communes, followed by districts, provinces and cities. Viettel users will have to change SIM cards for 4G services while phone numbers will remain unchanged.

Together with Viettel, Vinaphone, one of the big names in the country's telecom market, also announced to launch 4G service this year. Users of Vinaphone can keep their SIM cards when changing to 4G service.

3G service was first launched in Vietnam in 2009. As of June 2015, some 29.1 million people, or around 32 percent of the country's population have subscribed to 3G, an increase of 29.6 percent year-on-year, according to Vietnam's General Statistics Office.

While Viettel and Vinaphone announced their plans for 4G service, Mobiphone stays silence so far.

Viettel, Vinaphone, and MobiFone owned some 99 percent of the service's market share in Vietnam. Endi