On the afternoon of April 15, at the State Management meeting of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung granted licenses to establish networks and provide terrestrial mobile information services using 5G technology to Viettel and VNPT.
Director of the Telecommunications Department Nguyen Thanh Phuc said that after 15 years of regulations on radio frequency auctions in the 2009 Radio Frequency Law, for the first time, the Ministry of Information and Communications successfully organized an auction for the right to use radio frequencies for the 5G deployment band. The two winning enterprises were Viettel with the 2500 - 2600 MHz band and VNPT with the 3700 - 3800 MHz band.
“With the successful auction of the above radio frequency rights, the Ministry of Information and Communications has officially licensed the establishment of the network and provision of terrestrial mobile information services using 5G technology from April 11, 2024. Enterprises will quickly commercialize 5G nationwide in 2024, forming a new infrastructure to promote the development of the digital economy - digital society - digital government in Vietnam,” said Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phuc.
Speaking at the event, Viettel Chairman Tao Duc Thang said that with the frequency ownership, Viettel will strengthen the infrastructure for 4G, and is determined to soon bring 5G to customers.
Mr. To Dung Thai, Chairman of VNPT, shared that the issuance of 5G licenses is a turning point for businesses to be able to complete procedures to deploy services to meet customer needs. MobiFone also shared its desire to soon be granted 5G licenses through auction.
Previously, Director of the Radio Frequency Department (Ministry of Information and Communications) Le Van Tuan said that 5G technology is now more mature than 2-3 years ago. After the testing period, network operators are ready to provide 5G services and are interested in auctioning spectrum for 5G. Currently, most countries in the world choose the auction form because the world recognizes this as the most transparent form.
After the Government and relevant ministries and branches, together with the Ministry of Information and Communications, issued a mechanism to remove obstacles in frequency auctions, on the afternoon of March 8, 2024, National Joint Auction Company No. 5 organized an auction for the right to use radio frequencies for the B1 band (2,500-2,600 MHz). This event marked a new milestone for Vietnam's telecommunications when it shifted from allocation and selection to auction to obtain frequencies.
The Military Industry - Telecommunications Group won the auction for the 2500-2600 MHz frequency band with a price of VND 7,533,257,500,000 and VNPT won the auction for the 3700-3800 MHz frequency band with a price of VND 2,581,892,500,000.
As for the 3800-3900 MHz frequency band, because only 1 enterprise paid a deposit to participate in the auction, and there was not enough minimum number of enterprises eligible to participate in the auction according to the provisions of the Law on Property Auction, the auction of this frequency band was unsuccessful.
The Radio Frequency Department and the Telecommunications Department have issued notices on payment of fees for granting the right to use radio frequencies; notices on radio frequency fees and charges; telecommunications license fees, and telecommunications operation rights fees to the winning enterprises.
According to Mr. Le Van Tuan, after the two auctioned frequency blocks were granted to businesses, the amount of frequency granted to mobile information has increased by 59% compared to the present. The amount of frequency that all businesses are granted is 340 MHz, and in the two recent successful auctions, an additional 200 MHz was granted. With the additional frequency, the quality of mobile broadband services will certainly increase.
With the unsuccessful auction of the 3800-3900 MHz frequency block, according to the provisions of Decree 63, the starting price of the 3800-3900 MHz frequency block will be the price paid by the enterprise bidding for the 3700-3800 MHz frequency band. That is, after VNPT is licensed, the price paid by VNPT will be officially used as the starting price for the re-auction of the 3800-3900 MHz frequency block.
After the Radio Frequency Department reports to the Ministry's leaders to re-auction the 3800-3900 MHz frequency band, if there is still only 1 enterprise participating in the auction, this frequency band block may be resold to that enterprise according to regulations.
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