Vietnam will only license the development of 4G mobile services by 2015 or even later, one official has said.  

Vietnam will only license the development of 4G mobile services by 2015 or even later, one official has said.  

Le Nam Thang, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications said such licensing would be put out to tender.

“The Ministry of Information and Communications will not license such services in the new future in order to foster the investment efficiency of the country’s 3G mobile services. 3G service providers have pumped thousands of billions of VND in their infrastructure for over three years but only 10% of the capacity has been used,” Thang noted.

According to the minister, the delay was also the result that 4G services were still emerging globally and 4G devices are still modest in quantity and are sold at high prices.

The ministry hoped that 4G devices would be much more available by 2015.

A few years ago, the ministry licensed four enterprises including VDC, FPT Telecom, Viettel and VTC to pilot 4G services. They have piloted the services in several localities such as Hanoi, HCM City, Danang, Haiphong, Dong Nai and Thai Nguyen.

Thang added that these enterprises have proposed delaying licensing 4G services to 2015 to await further global development and more efficient applications.