TL;DR: The Vietnam 5G rollout has covered roughly 92% of the population with over 40,000 base stations by early 2026, a pace regulators call among the fastest in the world. About 2,500 of those stations, roughly 6%, run on domestically manufactured equipment, and officials are already positioning the country for 6G.
Vietnam's Ministry of Science and Technology confirmed at a July 31, 2026 press conference that the Vietnam 5G rollout has reached roughly 92% population coverage through more than 40,000 base stations nationwide. Deputy Director of the Telecommunications Authority Nguyen Anh Cuong presented the figures, framing Vietnam's deployment speed as globally competitive even though the country was not among the earliest 5G adopters.
How fast has the Vietnam 5G rollout actually moved?
By early 2026, the Vietnam 5G rollout had deployed more than 40,000 base stations, reaching approximately 92% of the population. Regulators note that countries typically take three to five years to reach 90% population coverage with a new mobile generation, which makes Vietnam's timeline notably compressed by international standards.
Vietnam was not a first-mover on 5G globally, unlike South Korea, China, or the United States, which launched commercial 5G networks several years earlier. The speed of the Vietnam 5G rollout since commercial launch is what officials are highlighting, rather than being first to market.
How much of the Vietnam 5G rollout uses domestic equipment?
Vietnamese telecommunications companies have succeeded in mastering, manufacturing, and commercializing 5G equipment to international standards, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology. Approximately 2,500 base stations in the Vietnam 5G rollout, or about 6% of the total, now run on domestically produced equipment rather than imported hardware.
While 6% is still a small share of total infrastructure, the milestone matters strategically: it demonstrates domestic manufacturing capability for a technology category that many countries still rely entirely on foreign vendors like Ericsson, Nokia, and Huawei to supply. Growing this domestic share further is likely to remain a policy priority as the Vietnam 5G rollout continues to expand.
What comes after the Vietnam 5G rollout reaches full coverage?
Vietnamese officials have already signaled that the country is preparing for 6G even as the Vietnam 5G rollout continues toward full population coverage. Statements from the Ministry of Science and Technology frame 6G readiness as a natural next step given the pace already demonstrated with 5G infrastructure build-out.
Separately, officials have also pushed for broader IPv6-only deployment across government agencies, a related digital infrastructure initiative that complements the network capacity gains from the Vietnam 5G rollout. Together, these efforts point to a coordinated push on telecom and internet infrastructure modernization rather than an isolated 5G milestone.
Why does the Vietnam 5G rollout matter for data and enterprise buyers?
For enterprise data buyers and technology teams, the Vietnam 5G rollout reaching 92% population coverage signals that low-latency, high-bandwidth connectivity is now broadly available for use cases like IoT sensor networks, real-time geospatial data collection, and mobile-first data products aimed at Vietnamese consumers and businesses.
This matters directly for services like DataCore's Geospatial Service, where broader 5G coverage improves the reliability of real-time location data feeds and reduces latency for applications that depend on continuous connectivity across urban and increasingly rural areas of Vietnam.
What should analysts track next on the Vietnam 5G rollout?
Analysts should watch whether the domestic equipment share of the Vietnam 5G rollout grows beyond its current 6%, since that trend line indicates how quickly Vietnam is building sovereign telecom manufacturing capacity rather than remaining dependent on foreign 5G hardware vendors.
The remaining 8% population coverage gap, plus rural and remote area build-out, is also worth tracking, since closing that gap will determine whether 5G-dependent data services can be deployed reliably outside major urban centers like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
Frequently Asked Questions
What percentage of Vietnam has 5G coverage in 2026?
The Vietnam 5G rollout has reached approximately 92% population coverage as of early 2026, through more than 40,000 base stations nationwide.
How many 5G base stations does Vietnam have?
Vietnam has deployed over 40,000 5G base stations as part of its nationwide rollout, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Does Vietnam manufacture its own 5G equipment?
Yes. Approximately 2,500 base stations, about 6% of the total, run on domestically manufactured 5G equipment built to international standards.
Is Vietnam preparing for 6G already?
Yes. Officials have stated Vietnam is well positioned to prepare for 6G even as the 5G rollout continues toward full nationwide coverage.
For more on Vietnam's technology and data infrastructure trends, see DataCore's coverage of Vietnam bank earnings and macro data impacts, both relevant to how digital infrastructure investment intersects with the broader economy.
How does the Vietnam 5G rollout compare to regional peers?
Within Southeast Asia, the Vietnam 5G rollout stands out for reaching population coverage at a pace comparable to markets with larger telecom budgets and denser urban populations. Singapore and Thailand launched 5G earlier, but Vietnam's base station buildout since its own commercial launch has closed much of that early gap in practical coverage terms.
The Vietnam 5G rollout has been driven primarily by domestic carriers rather than foreign network operators, which is part of why officials have emphasized both coverage speed and the growing share of domestically manufactured equipment as twin achievements rather than treating them as separate milestones.
What sectors benefit most from the Vietnam 5G rollout?
Manufacturing, logistics, and financial services are among the sectors best positioned to benefit from the Vietnam 5G rollout, since each depends on low-latency data transmission for automation, real-time tracking, and mobile-first customer services respectively. As coverage extends into industrial zones and secondary cities, more of these use cases become commercially viable at scale.
Data and analytics providers serving these sectors should expect increased demand for real-time data feeds and location-based services as the Vietnam 5G rollout matures beyond initial urban coverage into broader nationwide availability over the next few years.
The Vietnam 5G rollout also intersects with the country's broader digital transformation agenda, which includes government e-services, smart city pilots, and industrial IoT projects that all depend on reliable, low-latency mobile connectivity to function at scale outside of fixed fiber networks.
As the Vietnam 5G rollout pushes past 92% coverage toward the remaining rural and mountainous regions, cost per additional percentage point of coverage typically rises, since remaining areas tend to have lower population density and more challenging terrain for base station placement.
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