Deputy General Director of Viettel Telecoms Nguyen Trong Tinh said that at a seminar, themed “Viettel M2M IoT,” held by the Military Industry-Telecoms Group (Viettel) on June 14 in Hanoi.
The event saw the participation of speakers from Deloitte, GSMA, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, China Mobile, and more than 200 domestic and foreign businesses from the U.S., the Netherlands, France, Spain, and China, among others.
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Deputy General Director of Viettel Telecoms Nguyen Trong Tinh speaks at the event. |
Together solve technical problems
In the development trend of the domestic and global Internet of Things (IoT) market, the seminar proposed the initiative to establish the Vietnam IoT Association to bring together businesses and organizations operating in the same industry and sharing same development purposes. This association will create an environment for IoT businesses to learn from one another and develop.
According to the Viettel Telecoms’ deputy general director, there are nearly 15 billion connected IoT devices in the world. It means that each person is connecting nearly two smart devices via the internet. However, this number remains modest in Vietnam.
According to him, the strengthening of the IoT market in Vietnam has similarities with the spread of telecommunications. He recalled that when Viettel embarked on telecoms market 20 years ago, there were only 5% of population connected to mobile network. However, eight years later, Viettel's mobile network covered 100% of the population.
Back to the story of IoT in Vietnam, Tinh said that Vietnam should try harder to catch up with the development of IoT in the world since the country is just a newbie in this sector. However, he believed that this field will strongly develop in the coming time when telecom and IT businesses and units work together to solve the problems of infrastructure and foster cooperation.
“Viettel can’t do it alone, but needs the companionship and cooperation of all technology enterprises, especially in solution development and supply of products to the market," said Tinh.
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Experts and delegates at the discussion |
Director of Viettel High Tech’s IoT Center Le Ngoc Quy said that since IoT is a new sector, there is no available data regarding the values that this technology can generate as well as its effectiveness. Therefore, it is hard to convince businesses to invest in.
He added that cost of human resources is another problem that makes businesses to consider to pour investment in this sector, affecting the development of IoT infrastructure.
Lack of high-quality human resources
According to IoT architect Nguyen Minh Thi from Viettel Network, technology remains the main barrier to the development of the IoT sector in Vietnam. Although businesses and units are fully aware of the benefits of IoT, they face numerous difficulties in implementation.
He said that these difficulties will only be solved if Vietnamese digital technology businesses work together. Through sharing of IoT knowledge, they will help one another save money, human resources, and time.
Regarding the training of high-quality IoT human resources, speaker Nguyen Minh Duc from the Faculty of Electronics Engineering of the Hanoi University of Science and Technology mentioned the lack of chief engineers who are capable of helping business owners understand the benefits of applying IoT.
He added that although Vietnam has hundreds of electronics graduates annually, it still faces the lack of high-quality employees who know well about IoT and can develop, test, and bring products to the market.
To solve this problem, the speaker said that the Hanoi University of Science and Technology is creating favorable conditions for students to have practical experience by engaging in businesses’ operation.
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IoT products and devices introduced at the event |
Deputy General Director of Viettel Telecoms Nguyen Trong Tinh said that IoT is a source of inspiration for start-up ideas and considered an opportunity for businesses to raise their revenues in the future. He went on to say that Viettel is fully aware that success of businesses is the success of the community and it is willing to support businesses in installing and operating IoT projects
He hoped with its rich knowledge about IoT and experienced employees, Viettel could provide comprehensive IoT solutions to meet the demands of businesses.
At the event, speakers presented an overview of IoT Vietnam, standardized IoT in the world, and trends. Apart from human resources, delegates discussed measures to optimize technical infrastructure to raise the quality of the strengthening of IoT in Vietnam.
In the framework of the seminar, Viettel and its partners showcased their new products and IoT applied technologies, including VHealth (health monitoring application), smart home solution HomeCamera AI that connects with Viettel Home, wireless sensor IoT devices, smart metering systems, and connectivity management platform (CMP), among others.
Translated by Tran Hoai