On September 20, 2024, Viettel Telecom Corporation announced free support for 4G phone conversion for all remaining 2G phone customers. Priority will be given to 10 mountainous provinces in the Northwest region that are facing many difficulties due to the impact of storms, floods and natural disasters (including Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Tuyen Quang, Hoa Binh, Bac Kan, Son La, Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Cao Bang, Ha Giang).
Along with a series of policies implemented in recent days to support people who are heavily affected by storm Yagi, floods and landslides, this is the next action that Viettel Telecom has implemented to help people stabilize their lives soon, demonstrating the company's social responsibility to the community.
The recipients of the gift are all customers who are using 2G-only phones operating on the Viettel network and have not yet been able to upgrade to 4G. The supported phone models are 4G phones that meet basic calling needs or phones with additional Cloud phone features that can access OTT applications and phones with keyboards, loud volume, and voice support when dialing numbers for elderly customers. Each customer is given a free or discounted phone only once.
The program is only applicable from now until October 15, 2024. Eligible customers will receive a text message inviting them to visit Viettel stores or contact Viettel staff in the area for support.
This is considered Viettel's most drastic action to date to convert the last customers using 2G devices to 4G devices. It is expected that about 700,000 customers (living in remote areas, with difficult circumstances) will enjoy this incentive, equivalent to a budget of nearly 300 billion VND.
Previously, the 4G device donation program was implemented by Viettel in 1,700 disadvantaged communes (according to Decision 861/QD-TTg dated June 4, 2021) and 50 communes (according to Decision No. 353/QD-TTg dated March 15, 2022 of the Prime Minister) and customers are poor and near-poor households nationwide. After only 2 weeks of implementation, 100,000 Viettel customers were given devices to successfully switch to 4G, with a total cost of more than 40 billion VND.
More than 3 million customers successfully switched to 4G in August 2024
Following the roadmap of the Ministry of Information and Communications, with many drastic measures, from the beginning of 2024 until now, Viettel has supported the conversion of more than 8 million 4G devices nationwide. In August alone, more than 3 million 2G devices were successfully converted to 4G.
In addition to 10,000 mobile exchange points located in residential areas and villages, Viettel Telecom also cooperates with community digital transformation teams to popularize digital skills for people. At the same time, it cooperates with chain stores such as mobile phones and Dien May Xanh to support customers in the most convenient way.
Actively implementing many support programs has helped Viettel Telecom reduce the number of 2G subscribers across the network to less than 2%.
In addition to the policy of supporting people to switch phones, Viettel also expanded 4G coverage with more than 6,000 new 4G radio stations installed in just the past year (bringing 4G coverage to more than 96%, adding 4 million people in remote and rural areas to 4G), increasing network capacity by 20% to improve user experience. The goal is that by 2025, 4G coverage will be equivalent to 2G, reaching more than 98% of the population.
