Which frequency bands will be auctioned for 4G and 5G deployment in Vietnam?

The Ministry of Information and Communications has signed a decision on organizing the determination of collection levels for frequency bands for 4G and 5G.

Accordingly, the frequency bands 700 MHz (703-733 MHz and 758-788 MHz), 2600 MHz (2500-2600 MHz), 3700 MHz (3560-4000 MHz) will be auctioned. The Radio Frequency Department said that this is the first step to activate the auction process to grant the right to use the frequencies of these bands for 4G and 5G in Vietnam.

The Minister of Information and Communications assigns the Radio Frequency Department to select an organization that is qualified to conduct price appraisal activities (price appraisal organization) to determine the basic collection level for the frequency bands 703-733 MHz and 758-788 MHz, 2500-2600 MHz, 3560-4000 MHz; based on the results determined by the price appraisal organization, submit to the Minister to promulgate the basic collection level for the frequency bands.

The determination of the basic collection level for frequency bands is implemented according to the guidance in Decree No. 63/2023/ND-CP dated August 18, 2023 of the Government detailing a number of articles of the Law on Radio Frequencies No. 42/2009/QH12, amended and supplemented by a number of articles under Law No. 09/2022/QH15.

The Radio Frequency Department said that in Vietnam, the 700 MHz band was previously mainly used for analogue terrestrial television systems. This system has been replaced by digital terrestrial television according to the Project on digitizing terrestrial television transmission and broadcasting by 2020.

On December 28, 2020, Vietnam officially stopped broadcasting terrestrial analog television nationwide and the 700 MHz band was freed up to prepare for the deployment of the IMT mobile information system.

On December 25, 2019, the Minister of Information and Communications issued a circular planning the 694-806 MHz frequency band for Vietnam's mobile information system, effective from February 16, 2020. Accordingly, the 694-806 MHz frequency band is planned for the deployment of IMT mobile information systems according to the IMT-Advanced standard and subsequent versions. The 700 MHz frequency band is planned into 3 duplex blocks divided by frequency, each block has a width of 10 MHz.

The issuance of the 700 MHz frequency band planning for IMT mobile information is considered to meet the expectations of telecommunications enterprises and bring positive impacts to society: Enterprises have a direction to develop plans for equipment investment and infrastructure development; management agencies have a basis to conduct auctions and grant licenses to use the 700 MHz frequency band; bringing more benefits to people when 4G and 5G mobile information services are developed, especially in rural and mountainous areas.

On August 20, 2020, the Minister of Information and Communications issued a plan for the 2300-2400 MHz band and the 2500-2690 MHz band for Vietnam's IMT mobile information system. Accordingly, the 2500-2690 MHz band is planned for the deployment of IMT mobile information systems according to the IMT-Advanced standard and subsequent versions.

Enterprises licensed to use frequencies in the same 2500-2690 MHz band are responsible for coordinating with each other to avoid harmful interference, synchronize data frames of TDD method and comply with the provisions of the frequency band license. Currently, the 2500-2690 MHz band is ready for official licensing for network operators to deploy 4G and 5G nationwide.

According to the Radio Frequency Department, the national radio frequency spectrum has planned the 3400-4200 MHz band for mobile, fixed, fixed via satellite (downlink from satellite) and radio positioning (radar) services, in which the 3560-4000 MHz band is identified for the IMT system.

The national radio frequency spectrum planning also stipulates that fixed satellite service systems in the 3400-3560 MHz downlink band (space-to-earth) must have receiver filters that meet the standards for filtering out-of-band signals.

With the activation of the frequency auction process for the 700 MHz, 2600 MHz, and 3700 MHz bands, it is expected that more than 500 MHz of bandwidth (both low-band and mid-band) will be added to the IMT mobile information system to deploy 4G/5G in Vietnam.

The newly added frequency will make an important contribution to the implementation of the task of "ensuring frequencies for ultra-broadband and universal mobile", contributing to the completion of the telecommunications industry's mission in the new period of "Building modern digital infrastructure, including telecommunications infrastructure and data infrastructure, ultra-large capacity, ultra-broadband, universal, sustainable, green, open, smart and safe".

Previously, on February 24, 2023, the Ministry of Information and Communications issued and publicly announced the Plan for organizing the auction of frequency usage rights for the 2300MHz band.

Four telecommunications enterprises have submitted their applications, namely VNPT, Viettel, MobiFone and Vietnamobile, and have been granted certificates of eligibility to participate in the auction by the Ministry of Information and Communications. According to the provisions of Decree 88/2021/ND-CP, only enterprises certified by the Ministry of Information and Communications as eligible to participate in the auction can submit their applications to participate in the auction round.

On May 15, May 25 and June 2, 2023, the Ministry of Information and Communications organized an auction of the 2300MHz band, including 3 frequency blocks A1 (2300-2330 MHz), A2 (2330-2360 MHz), A3 (2360-2390 MHz). However, by the deadline for submitting registration documents to participate in the auction for each block A1, A2, A3, no enterprises had submitted documents and paid deposits to register to participate in the auction. Therefore, the auctions of frequency usage rights for the A1, A2, A3 frequency blocks were unsuccessful.

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