Subscribers awaiting 3G in Vietnam will soon have the choice of signing up for Vinaphone’s 3G services. Vinaphone, one of Vietnam’s leading mobile players, is undertaking a capacity expansion for its core network allowing it to provide 3G-enabled mobile broadband services to more than 5 million of its subscribers. It has appointed Nokia Siemens Networks as its partner for this expansion.

“While mobile data delivery is still in its formative stage, the country’s rapidly growing youth market is driving the demand for cutting edge services,” said Mr. Hoang Trung Hai, Standing Deputy Director at Vinaphone. “All eyes are on 3G to unleash the power of high speed data delivery on users’ handsets and we want to be at the forefront of this revolution.”

To prepare its network for the 3G opportunity, Vinaphone will undertake a core network expansion using Nokia Siemens Networks’ packet core solutions, which enable a cost effective network expansion. In fact, today almost 40% of the global mobile data traffic is routed through packet core networks based on Nokia Siemens Networks offerings. To ensure timely and smooth network modernization, the contract covers a full range of Services including project management, network planning, implementation, and competence development services and support during the warranty period.

“We faced aggressive competition in the form of free of cost proposals offered by our peers,” noted Krittika Mahattanakul, Head of Asia North, Nokia Siemens Networks. “However, there is no denying our supremacy in packet core implementations – having just crossed the 500 million subscriber landmark in such deployments, Vinaphone recognized the significance of opting for us.”

Nokia Siemens Networks will also modernize Vinaphone’s existing 2G Radio Access Network for 3G rollout. It will also implement NetAct which has been expanded to manage new network elements, to provide a centralized view of network resources and services. 

About Nokia Siemens Networks

Nokia Siemens Networks is a leading global enabler of telecommunications services. With its focus on innovation and sustainability, the company provides a complete portfolio of mobile, fixed and converged network technology, as well as professional services including consultancy and systems integration, deployment, maintenance and managed services. It is one of the largest telecommunications hardware, software and professional services companies in the world. Operating in 150 countries, its headquarters are in Espoo, Finland. www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com

Nokia Siemens Networks is a leading packet core supplier and has more than 255 GPRS references globally. It serves more than 500 million packet core subscribers on all continents.

The high user capacity of the packet core solution from Nokia Siemens Networks allows Communications Service Providers (CSPs) to handle a huge number of mobile consumers, even if they are using data services heavily, with a very small amount of equipment. One part of the solution, the Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN), combines support for 2G and 3G networks dynamically in one system. CSPs are therefore free to devote available capacity to the network where the capacity is needed without adding new hardware.

The SGSN also supports the so called “direct tunnel architecture” thereby preparing a network for “flat architecture” that is part of Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile networks. With this technology the data traffic connection is made directly between the radio access network and the Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN). Only the signaling part has to be routed through the SGSN. This simplifies the network, reduces transmission costs and saves a lot of capacity in the SGSN, so an increase in traffic doesn’t mean an additional investment in this part of the network.