Vietnam, a country I’m looking forward to visiting and possibly relocating to within the next 3 months, just got 3G courtesy of the third largest telecommunications provider in the region: Vinaphone. Limited availability is expected, with only 13 provinces and cities getting 3G coverage, but the whole population should be blanketed by the end of next year. Unlimited 7.2 Mbps HSPA can be yours for only 300,000 Vietnamese Dong per month, which comes out to a little less than $17. Quite a steal. The infrastructure equipment was made by Motorola, and an upgrade to 14.4 Mbps HSPA is expected in 2010. What’s really interesting about all this is the turn around speed. Vinaphone only won the right to sell 3G service in April of this year. It took 6 months to get a commercial network up. Lam Hoang Vinh, Director of Vinaphone, says that the company’s investment in 3G should be recuperated in roughly 7 years. I’m not sure if that includes the 3G license fee paid in April, or just the equipment; I’m going to have to guess the former. The nation’s two other larger mobile operators, Viettel and Mobifone, said their 3G networks should launch in December.
[Via: Xinhuanet, TeleGeography, PR Newswire, Vinaphone]