Viettel sticks with Juniper as 5G, IoT projects aboundViettel sticks with Juniper as 5G, IoT projects abound

The state-owned Vietnam telco giant taps Juniper for NAT network upgrades to handle more traffic and more devices.

August 25, 2023

3 Min Read
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Vietnam’s largest state-owned network operator, Viettel, has chosen Juniper Networks for its network upgrade, expanding a decade-long partnership, the vendor announced earlier this week.

The upgrade aims to enhance Viettel’s carrier-grade network address translation capacity to meet its rapidly growing data traffic. The added processing power needed for the NAT capability is delivered through router line card upgrades.

The new gear will help Viettel avoid IPv4 address exhaustion and allow it to use IPv6 addresses on the same network. This is especially helpful as Viettel looks to capitalize on IoT opportunities to support manufacturing and smart city applications.

The IoT issue is an ongoing puzzle for Viettel, as local reports suggest the carrier is having a tough time convincing the country's businesses that IoT-enabled applications are worth the investment and will have a long-term payback.

The race to 5G and beyond

The infrastructure upgrade is timely, though, given the carrier's recent progress with its 5G buildout. Viet Nam News reports that Viettel has completed the construction of 282 5G basestations, of which 265 are fully deployed. Viettel launched the country's first 5G commercial trial in parts of Hanoi at the end of 2020.

As Viettel pushes blanket consumers with 5G coverage, it also looks at enterprise 5G use cases, like private networks, where delivering 5G connectivity and IoT management capabilities fit neatly together for carriers.

This summer, the carrier touted a successful 5G private network trial with electronics manufacturer Pegatron for its factory in Hải Phòng. Following that test, Viettel told the local paper that thousands of devices in that factory would connect to its 5G private networks by the end of the year.

Juniper remains a steady supplier, now that it has supplied routing and security solutions for Viettel’s core, edge and metro access networks for over a decade. Along with Juniper, Viettel worked with SVTECH, one of the leading systems integrators in Vietnam, to upgrade its MX960 routers and provide ongoing maintenance.

Vietnam remains one of the fastest-growing digital economies in Southeast Asia, with its booming e-commerce sector and increased adoption of digital services. But while the government has set ambitious goals for its 5G rollouts and 6G tech development, the mobile average revenue per user (ARPU) is about $4, and the consumer market is price-sensitive. "5G adoption by consumers may take longer because there is limited demand due to a lack of applicable use cases and investment needs," wrote Jensen Ooi, Omdia's principal analyst for APAC service provider markets, in a February report.

Viettel is the dominant telco operator in the country. Last year, it held more than 40% of the broadband market and more than 50% of the mobile market with over 65.7 million subscribers, according to data from Omdia.

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— Gigi Onag, Senior Editor, APAC, Light Reading

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