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Southeast Asia

Feb 15, 2005

Siemens says Vietnam ready for 3G

HANOI - The year 2006 should be the time for Vietnam to launch third-generation (3G) telecommunications services, a Siemens director has said.

Dieter Klein, director of Siemens' telecoms unit in Vietnam, said 3G services have been piloted in the country since last year.

"It is clear that 3G is a breakthrough of the telecoms industry, as it will offer broader bandwidth for new services," he said.

Apart from Siemens, a number of companies, including Motorola, Ericsson and UTStarcom, are also contemplating introducing 3G services into the local market.

With 3G, network operators can provide more data services, which could mean an increase in telecoms firms' revenue. 3G also offers operators the chance to improve client loyalty by providing a tailored service.

If the technology is introduced, Vietnamese mobile users will join another 10 million 3G subscribers worldwide.

According to experts, 3G will see higher growth than GSM (global system for mobile communication) and will have 150 million subscribers by 2006.

For the time being, Klein said, Vietnam has to pay attention to granting 3G licenses and allocating frequency bands so that GSM operators in Vietnam can switch to W-CDMA (wideband code division multiple access). The first 3G networks will be deployed in large cities, where the demand for broadband services is high.

In case that the operators cannot obtain a 3G license, they can use the EDGE (enhanced data rates for GSM revolution) technology. Going 3G via EDGE is an economical way for operators to set up 3G networks.

(Asia Pulse/VNA)

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