According to Phan Hoang Duc, a member of VNPT's management board, Vietnam's telecom market witnessed an outstanding growth rate of some 30 percent in recent years, and 3G is where mobile development is headed.
“Vietnam's telecom market expects to reach a turnover of US$6-7 billion in 2010, which promises a huge market for mobile service providers.”
Duc said that with 3G, mobile operators in Vietnam would be able to provide more value-added services such as real time video telephone, video streaming and high speed Internet.
According to Hoang Ngoc Diep, Country Manager of Qualcomm Indochina, the world's leading provider of CDMA technology, 3G will be a milestone in Vietnam's mobile market as it will create advantages for the Vietnamese IT community.
However, Diep said that since investment in 3G is very expensive local operators should be cautious when planning to buy the technology.
He said mobile operators should avoid wasteful investments, especially in an environment where most existing mobile operators are state-owned.
Therefore, upgrading to 3G based upon the existing infrastructure should be a priority.
“If you invest, say one half of US$1 billion, but without fully using that technology, it is a very big waste.
But if you invest US$3 billion and fully use the technology to benefit the country, it is surely not a wasteful investment,” he said.
