Starting from your own zero
In the history of Vietnam's telecommunications industry, if the appearance of MobiFone pioneered the way, taking advantage of the international business cooperation model to quickly bring GSM to Vietnam, then with VinaPhone, that journey started almost from scratch. No complete GSM network operating team, no standard process, no field deployment experience. Everything must be built simultaneously: human training, technology reception, exploitation system formation, and then gradually deploying infrastructure in reality.
When the first network was built and the first call was made, the VinaPhone engineering team proved that Vietnamese people can receive and operate a modern mobile network themselves.
That was also the result of a breakthrough decision of the Postal industry at that time: Going straight into modern technology, without intermediaries, quickly approaching the trend of digitalization and automation of the world. Thanks to that, creating a revolution in the Postal industry, which was also one of the prerequisites for the birth of VinaPhone.
Rural children go to city
Mr. Hoang Gia Bong (81 years old, former Head of GSM Mobile Phone Center, Hanoi Telegraph Company) is one of the engineers who directly participated in building the system and making VinaPhone's first call 30 years ago.
After graduating from the Radio Engineering Department (the predecessor of the Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology today), Mr. Bong worked at the Central Information Station in Que Duong for 19 years, before moving to Hanoi in 1989.
In 1993, he was sent by Director General of the General Department of Posts and Telecommunications Dang Van Than to France to study mobile networks. A year later, he continued to Germany to train in technology transfer - a direct preparation step for building the VinaPhone network.
That course only had 5 people, including 2 girls and 3 boys. Our feeling was like "country children" going to the city, it was terrible!" - he laughed.
He acknowledged that the biggest initial barrier was foreign languages. At that time, most technical staff of the postal sector were not formally trained in foreign languages, mainly self-taught to pass exams.
However, foreign languages are only a part, the bigger challenge is GSM technology - completely new to Vietnam at that time. From initial knowledge, they were forced to self-research documents, self-systematize them to prepare for future practical implementation.
13 BTS stations and first call
In 1995, after signing the project, equipment provided by Siemens was brought to Vietnam. The team of engineers was summoned back to begin network installation.
The VinaPhone system at that time included a switching center, a broadcasting station and operating monitoring systems. The direct task of the Vietnamese engineer was to install the first 13 BTS stations in Hanoi in phase 1 of the project.
Theory and reality are two completely different things. Going to the scene, we see many problems arising. Great pressure, but in the end we still completed the task" - Mr. Bong said.
Siemens had three experts, but only two people worked directly at the site. The Vietnamese side also had only Mr. Bong and two associates. 13 BTS stations were deployed in many areas such as Dinh Tien Hoang, Giap Bat, Soc Son, Dong Anh... Most of them were installed manually.
In principle, the antennas must be placed at a certain height. But at that time, the facilities were very limited, the team chose the option of taking advantage of VNPT's existing poles, for example, the self-standing pole point at 165 Cau Giay, or Soc Son Post Office, Dong Anh Post Office... We had to bring the equipment up near the top of those poles without supporting tools, almost having to use human power to climb up, combined with wires to pull the antennas and other equipment up," Mr. Bong recounted.
Not only using human strength to carry and transport, but even the configuration installation, inspection... are also done manually, because there is no software to do this at that time, Mr. Bong said.
Installed, checked, then broadcasted" - he said briefly. But behind that were months of tension for those who were building a complete mobile network for the first time.
After going into operation, new difficulties continue to appear, from human resources to operating mechanisms. But each problem is solved by finding its own solution, based on the first "number 1" platform it has created.
The first call on VinaPhone network, Mr. Bong made a call to his family. The successful connection sound was a moment of overwhelming joy not only for him personally but for the entire team - when a mobile network deployed and operated by Vietnamese people "overcame difficulties" and was born.
“The next were the days of'barefoot', countless busyness. And to be honest, it was too fast. At the end of 1995, I returned from Germany to proceed with installation, and in June 1996, I opened and provided services to customers. That period was a short but extremely important period in VinaPhone's last 30 years, also a very memorable period in my life” - Mr. Bong said.
From the first call to VinaPhone today
Thirty years have passed since the first call, from 13 BTS stations built by manpower, VinaPhone today has become one of the largest mobile networks in Vietnam, with modern infrastructure, nationwide 4G coverage, deploying 5G in many localities and a digital service ecosystem serving tens of millions of customers.
But the most important change is not the scale of the network, but the ability to master technology. If the generation of Mr. Hoang Gia Bong laid the first bricks for a mobile network operated by Vietnamese people, then today's generations of engineers are continuing to expand that platform with digital infrastructure, new technologies and services serving national digital transformation.
Looking back at the "from 0 to 1" journey, the greatest value is the belief that Vietnamese people can master technology if they have enough aspiration and perseverance.
Thirty years ago, that journey started from zero. Thirty years later, it is still being continued every day.
