Four companies, VNPT, FPT, VTC, and Viettel, have recently received a decision from the Ministry of Information and Communications to grant them a license for the experimental provision of fixed WiMax services.
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Accordingly, these four companies will be allocated frequency bands for fixed WiMax services ranging from 3.3GHz to 3.4GHz, following the standard approved by the ITU in 2004 (802.16 version D). The companies will be allowed to test the service for one year. After the trial period, the Ministry of Information and Communications will review the results to decide which company will officially be permitted to provide the service.
It is known that the fixed WiMax system utilizes signal transmission towers and WiMax routers to receive signals. The WiMax access points allow signals to operate effectively within a radius of 45 kilometers. Therefore, this initial version will only replace wired computer networks in households. It is expected that the “mobile WiMax” technology—wireless WiMax—will emerge in 2007, enabling compatible laptops to receive signals directly from transmission towers, thus extending the range and bandwidth of WiMax connections.
As of now, the four companies will only be permitted to conduct trials for fixed WiMax services. WiMax technology is still relatively new to Vietnam, and the standard for mobile WiMax was only approved by the ITU in December 2005. Manufacturers worldwide are expected to launch devices for mobile WiMax by the end of the third quarter or the beginning of the fourth quarter of this year. Therefore, barring any changes, the Ministry of Information and Communications may not grant licenses for mobile WiMax trials until the end of the year.
According to the leadership of the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry has not yet granted licenses for companies to test mobile WiMax services because there are currently no devices available for this service. After one year of testing, the Ministry will officially license the companies to provide fixed WiMax. However, it is important to note that not all four companies will necessarily receive official licenses after the trial period; the results of the trials will be evaluated to select about three companies.
The reason for this limitation is that the frequency band allocated for fixed WiMax services is restricted. Additionally, according to the companies’ opinions, the Ministry should carefully consider granting licenses for mobile WiMax services. If licenses are granted to some companies, it would naturally lead to the emergence of mobile networks utilizing WiMax technology. Meanwhile, the current market already has four mobile networks, and this year, competition will intensify with the addition of two more mobile networks.
Thuy Nguyen – Hoang Hung
