On May 31, 2023, Nokia announced a cooperation program with VNPT to deploy the first 10 Gigabit per second (10 Gb/s) fiber optic broadband infrastructure in Vietnam.

Accordingly, in the initial deployment phase, VNPT will connect 10,000 households and businesses in the eight largest cities and provinces in the country. Nokia will provide optical access nodes for VNPT's switchboards and optical modems to connect customers' homes.

Broadband fiber optic technology is being rapidly deployed in Vietnam. In September 2021, the Ministry of Information and Communications announced a national digital transformation program, with the goal of fiber optic Internet infrastructure connecting 80% of households and 100% of communes by 2025.

According to the Vietnam Telecom Operators Information Report conducted by Global Data, VNPT is leading the market with 39.5% market share by 2022. Along with home Internet services, VNPT also provides mobile and pay TV services. The move to multi-Gigabit network infrastructure will help VNPT differentiate its services and maintain its leading position.

With this new technology, VNPT can provide customers with full speed options up to 10 Gb/s on existing infrastructure without having to install new fiber optic cables.

Mr. Dang Anh Son, General Director of VNPT Network Infrastructure Corporation said: "This project is our first step towards providing premium FTTx services, meeting the higher demand for bandwidth and service quality of residential and business customers with the latest generation XGS-PON solution. Next, VNPT will cooperate with Nokia to deploy a cloud-based network management system for the XGS-PON system and improve the quality of customer experience through digital transformation solutions".

Mr. Rubén Morón Flores, Head of Vietnam Market at Nokia shared: "We are proud to be selected by VNPT as a solution provider for an important event: bringing 10 Gb/s broadband to Vietnam for the first time. The Asia Pacific region is also the world's largest broadband fiber optic cable market. Our multi-Gigabit passive optical network solution achieves impressive flexibility and scale. Vietnam has many ambitious goals and we are delighted to contribute to the process of realizing those goals".

Currently, Vietnam's fixed broadband Internet market is facing fierce competition with the main price reduction race of 3 network operators: VNPT, Viettel, FPT. This race is even considered to be at an "excessive" level, causing all service providers to lose profits and affecting their reinvestment. The fixed broadband Internet market is so fierce that many businesses without infrastructure strength cannot participate in providing services to customers.

Late last year, VNPT and Nokia signed a cooperation agreement on 5G private radio networks and solutions for smart ports and smart airports. Under the agreement, the two sides agreed to share a strategic vision for network development and business opportunities from LTE/5G private radio networks and solutions for smart ports/smart airports. New products, innovations, technologies, information on successful application cases that benefit airport and seaport operators, and the establishment of a joint working group to coordinate in preparing to participate in potential projects in Vietnam such as international airports.

With support from partner Nokia, VNPT has launched a commercial 5G trial network in Hanoi, with 5G download speed reaching 1.2Gbps.

Fixed broadband Internet speed in Vietnam increased by 17.18% According to Ookla's assessment, fixed broadband Internet speed in Vietnam increased by 17.18% compared to the same period last year and is higher than the world average (74.54 Mbps).