In 1984, Prof. Tuyen led a group of overseas Vietnamese to hold the first seminar introducing semi-conductor laser technology in telecommunication in Vietnam. Two years later a trial optical fiber network transmitting multimedia data made its debut. 

Prof. Tuyen was also in charge of setting up the first digital telecommunications operation, marking a milestone in Vietnam’s telecommunication history.

“Setting up digital telecommunication is a big deal, as Vietnam was suffering from an embargo at that time,” he said, adding that Western technology developers were not allowed to transfer their technologies or sell machines to Vietnam.

He returned to West Germany and managed to ship material to Vietnam.

Prof. Tuyen teamed up with the Hanoi and HCM City Technology University to create the very first sample for the project.

“I completed the project thanks to encouragement from the late deputy Prime Minister, To Huu, and former deputy Prime Minister Dong Si Nguyen, as well great cooperation with Professor Vu Dinh Cu,” Prof. Tuyen recounted.

Earlier, Tuyen was also assigned by the government to set up a network, which could transmit data from abroad to Vietnam News Agency.

He designed and produced the first digital telephone in Vietnam, as well as helping Sai Gon Giai Phong to modernize its publishing.

In 1988, his company in Berlin, VIBA GmbH, cooperated with Vietnam General Post Office to found Vietnam Telecommunications Company in HCM City, which became a leading telecommunications firm.

He has been a vice-principal of the Saigon Technology University since 2004.

(Prof. Le Hiep Tuyen was born in 1950 in Da Nang City. He went to West Germany to study in 1968. He was among a few Vietnamese engineers carrying out research on optical cables and semi-conductor laser technologies for the telecommunication sector at Berlin Technology University. He became a manager of optical information research department of West Germany’s Krone. He was awarded his PhD at the age of 33).