07 October 2024

Viettel reportedly plans to give away 4G feature phones to 700,000 of its 2G-only subscribers to migrate them to 4G as the government’s delayed shutdown of 2G draws near.

Viettel will spend VND300 billion to subsidise the 4G feature phones, which leverage the cloud to offer select OTT apps. Eligible users will receive an SMS telling them to go to the nearest Viettel store or contact local employees for help in receiving the handsets.

Viettel will prioritize subscribers in mountainous regions affected by Super Typhoon Yagi, including Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Tuyen Quang, Hoa Binh, Bac Kan, Son La, Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Cao Bang, and Ha Giang provinces.

Viettel – which has the largest 2G subscriber base in Vietnam – has migrated more than 8 million 2G subscribers to 4G devices this year. It has also installed over 6,000 new base stations across the country to expand its 4G coverage to 96% of the population, including 4 million new users in remote and rural areas.

All telcos will stop providing services to all 2G-only phones from 15 October, with the exception of M2M 2G devices, as well as Vietnamese offshore platforms and the coastal archipelagos of Truong Sa (Spratley Islands) and Hoang Sa (Paracel Islands), which can continue to use 2G services until September 2026.