To reach C5 village in Muong Nha commune, Dien Bien province, one has to travel by car for half a day from the city center, then hike more than 2 km through the forest. There, over 25 Mong ethnic minority households live on the mountainside, without electricity or phone signal for many years.
The first question the village chief asked the team that came to fix the signal gap wasn't about the antenna pole. He asked about the children: "Do the children in the village learn anything online?"
"If you want to answer the phone, you have to walk a kilometer."
Mr. Thào A Di, head of village C5, recounted that for many years, to deliver news to the entire village, he had to go to each house and meet each person individually. Many young people in the village work far away, and every time a relative calls home, those at home have to walk kilometers to find a place with even a little signal. "It's also very difficult to contact the health station when someone is sick. How wonderful it would be if the village had a signal," he said.
When he learned that a cell phone tower would be built in his village, Mr. Di volunteered to lead a survey team across the mountain slopes and lent Viettel land for the tower free of charge. For him, the cell tower is more than just a phone call: it's a gateway to online learning for the children, a channel for medical communication when someone is sick, and a link connecting the village to the rest of the country.
Village C5 is one of 1,856 mobile network coverage gaps across the country, located in complex areas, that Viettel has been tasked by the Government and the Ministry of National Defense to address in 2026. This is also part of the overall goal of the Public Telecommunications Service Program until 2030, according to Decision 777 of the Prime Minister: striving to bring mobile network and broadband internet coverage to 100% of particularly disadvantaged villages with electricity in ethnic minority, mountainous, coastal, and island areas.
Nearly 1,400 stations for the most inaccessible places.
According to a pre-campaign review, the entire country has 788 villages and hamlets and 1,068 residential clusters with 50 or more people that lack stable mobile phone coverage, spread across 23 provinces and cities, mainly in mountainous and border areas. To cover these areas, Viettel plans to build nearly 1,400 new base stations by the end of November 2026, mostly located in places inaccessible to motor vehicles, and about 200 stations that are not yet connected to the national power grid.
The challenge wasn't just about erecting poles. In many locations, the traditional method of laying fiber optic cables was impossible due to the complex terrain. Engineers had to redesign each location, converting dozens of stations to microwave transmission instead of laying nearly 700 km of fiber optic cable, using solar-powered stations in areas without electricity, and experimenting with transmission via low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites for the most isolated points. In Tuyen Quang alone, 65 locations required drilling and breaking through rock to lay the foundations for the poles.
The process of transporting equipment to install the base station was not simple. (Photo: Viettel)
During the rainy season in Northwest Vietnam, things become even more difficult. Roads to many stations are prone to landslides and slippery; heavy equipment weighing hundreds of kilograms is transported up the mountains primarily by human power. "We have identified covering remote villages and hamlets with poor signal coverage in border areas as our top priority this year. We are determined to do our utmost to bring signal and knowledge to the people," said Mr. Le Van Thanh, representative of Viettel's telecommunications infrastructure unit, who was directly present in Dien Bien.
There are obstacles that the construction team cannot resolve on its own, such as site availability, land, or local power supply. Following the directive of Deputy Prime Minister Ho Quoc Dung , and to facilitate Viettel's completion of its coverage mission in 2026, the Ministry of Science and Technology has requested the People's Committees of provinces and cities with weak signal coverage to direct relevant departments, agencies, and local authorities to assist in resolving these procedural issues.
By the end of Q3 2026, more than 800 stations had officially started broadcasting, helping to eliminate signal gaps in nearly 940 areas, right at the time when the rainy season begins in the mountainous regions of Northern Vietnam and the Central Highlands.
When the campaign is complete, nationwide 4G coverage is expected to reach nearly 99.7% outdoors. Behind that figure are hundreds of thousands of people who will have access to high-speed internet for the first time: students in mountainous areas will be able to study online, commune health stations will be connected to higher-level hospitals, local authorities will receive information more quickly, and those working far from home will be able to call home.
Children in C5 village will soon be able to study online. (Photo: Viettel)
In village C5, the antenna tower is gradually taking shape amidst the vast forest. "Looking at the eyes and smiles of the children here, I feel overwhelmed. We didn't just come to the village to erect an antenna tower, but to give these children the opportunity to see a wider world," shared Vu Dinh Thinh, an engineer in the working group.
The answer to the question from village head Thào A Di is therefore: "During this school year, the children of village C5 have been able to learn online, right here on the mountainside of their homeland."
(Vietnam+)
Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/len-nui-xoa-lom-song-mo-canh-cua-internet-cho-tre-em-vung-cao-post1139669.vnp
