Vietnam's Viettel Targets 2029 for 6G

Viettel's 6G ambitions are built on a robust 5G foundation; the company surpassed its goal of deploying 20,000 5G sites by the end of 2025 and had attracted 10 million 5G subscribers by October of that year. The state-owned enterprise has been actively developing its own 5G hardware, including gNodeB base stations and 5G digital front-end (DFE) chipsets, through its Viettel High Tech R&D arm. The company's strategy extends beyond domestic deployment, aiming to market a full suite of "Made in Vietnam" 6G products globally, including network equipment, software platforms, and AI-integrated devices. This move signals a potential shift for nations seeking to reduce dependency on traditional Western or Chinese technology suppliers. Viettel has already begun exporting some of its 5G-related products. The Qualcomm-led alliance, which Viettel has joined, includes a wide array of global tech and telecom leaders such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung. This coalition is focused on creating a milestone-driven roadmap for the global deployment of 6G, which is envisioned as an AI-native system from the ground up. Viettel's 6G roadmap includes conducting pre-commercial trials of its own systems and devices by 2028. This timeline aligns with the global push, as the 3GPP, the industry's standards body, is expected to finalize the first 6G specifications in its Release 21 by the end of 2028, paving the way for initial commercial launches around 2030. This aggressive push into next-generation technology is a core component of Vietnam's national digital transformation strategy. Viettel is central to this plan, investing heavily in digital infrastructure, including a plan to operate 24 data centers by 2030 and expanding international connectivity with new undersea fiber optic cables.