GERMANTOWN, M.D.-Hughes Network Systems Inc. announced it has been selected by the Ho Chi Minh City Telephone Co. to build a wireless network in Vietnam.
The $22 million contract, which went into effect in late November, calls for HNS to provide switching, digital microwave and 800 MHz radio base stations. Japanese trading company Kanematsu Corp. is providing long-term financing.
The Vietnamese telephone company said Hughes’ technology will help it take on the growing demand for new telephone lines, providing phones for about 20,000 users in Ho Chi Minh City.
“The Hughes digital wireless technology is an attractive solution for wireless loop in urban and suburban areas,” said a spokesperson for Ho Chi Minh Telephone. “We can provide phones for thousands of subscribers using only 5 megahertz of radio spectrum.”
Hughes said the network and terminals for the initial subscribers are expected to be in service by May, with 20,000 lines targeted to be built by late summer. The wireless loop technology is based on high-capacity digital Advanced Mobile Phone Service, with special fixed cellular terminals capable of supporting digital voice, fax, data, pay phones and private automatic branch exchange lines, HNS said.
HNS said this is the largest telecommunications contract for a U.S. supplier in Vietnam in more than 20 years.
