JTOWER completed demonstration project of Vietnam’s first Indoor 5G Infra-Sharing

JTOWER Inc. (Representative Director: Atsushi Tanaka, Headquarters: Minato-ku Tokyo) (“JTOWER”), conducted the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications’ FY2022 demonstration project of indoor Infra-Sharing in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam during the period from January 2023 to March 2023, which is the first Indoor 5G Infra sharing project in Vietnam.

■Overview of demonstration project
In the demonstration project, JTOWER built and operate a 5G communications network through Infra-Sharing in 「Parkson Saigon Tourist Plaza」 (Ho Chi Minh City), a commercial facility in Vietnam with high mobile communications traffic demand, to support early deployment of indoor 5G in Vietnam. In addition, JTOWER provided VR contents utilizing 5G and verify the utilization of large-volume data under 5G network. With the demonstration project, JTOWER quantitatively demonstrated the cost-reduction and the reduction of electricity consumptions effected by introducing Infra-Sharing.
The implementation and operation of this demonstration project were carried out by a JTOWER’s subsidiary in Vietnam, Southern Star Telecommunication Equipment Joint Stock Company, responsible for JTOWER’s Vietnamese business (Chairman and Representative Director: Satoshi Igarashi, Headquarters: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)(“SPN”). Furthermore, the construction and operation of solutions for the provision of XR contents were carried out by KDDI Vietnam Ho Chi Minh Branch (Representative: Takakazu Tsunoda, Location: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam), which is an overseas subsidiary of KDDI.
On March 15, 2023, this project has been certified as one of the 50th anniversary projects that promote mutual understanding and friendship as well as social contribution in between Japan and Vietnam on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

■Results of this demonstration project
1) Implement demonstration environment for indoor 5G infra-sharing
Two mobile network operators (“MNOs”) in Vietnam participated in this demonstration project, and in addition to the existing networking facilities in 4G, the company has built a 5G environment through infra-sharing. JTOWER measured transmission speed and latency for 5G and compared with transmission speed and delay times of existing 4G on each floor as benchmarks. As a result, transmission speed improved by more than 10 times and latency also improved around 30%.
In addition, JTOWER interviewed related parties about the demonstration results. As a result, Parkson Saigon Tourist Plaza facilities managers especially have good evaluation regarding the transmission speed of 5G. Two MNOs participated in this demonstration project also highly praise the usefulness of infra-sharing and 5G transmission speed.

2) Verifying applications using 5G network equipment
The company evaluated the improved convenience of downloading large-volume data by providing XR contents in an indoor 5G network environment. This was constructed in this demonstration project. In MUJI PARKSON LE THANH TON store on Parkson Saigon Tourist Plaza 1st floor where au XR Door Solution is installed, the company measured the downloading time of contents for 4G and 5G. As a result, the time required for users to first install the application has been reduced by more than half in all cases, and a significant improvement has been observed.

3) Verification of reduction effects and profitability of capital investment costs, operation and maintenance costs, and electricity consumption, etc.
Through actual operations, the company quantitatively clarified the extent to which the company was able to reduce the expected capital investment costs, operation and maintenance costs, and power consumption if the company would not conduct infra-sharing.
Based on the amount of capital investment and electricity consumption required in this demonstration project, a trial calculation was made that compared with the case where two MNOs individually implement the 5G network environment. As a result, it became clear that the amount of capital investment and operation and maintenance expenses, including construction expenses and equipment expenses, etc., could be reduced by about one half and the amount of power consumed could be reduced by about one half.
In order to promote 5G utilizing infra-sharing in the future, it is considered to be effective to install equipment focused on high data traffic areas and to share them among the three MNOs, in view of the prices of 5G equipment, electricity charges, and the lease of machine rooms for the installation of facilities.

■Background of implementation for this demonstration project
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has a mission to expand digital infrastructures and digital technologies to abroad in order to contribute to the global dissemination of safe and secure 5G, which are the foundation of digitization, and to develop an industrial foundation based on 5G.
In Vietnam in particular, the mobile phone penetration rate has grown by more than 100% in line with high economic growth, and demand for mobile communications infrastructure continues to rise. The Vietnamese government announced its policy to grant 5G licenses to mobile network operators in 2023, and therefore further growth in demand for 5G network infrastructures is expected in the future.
In 2020, JTOWER completed the development of multi-carrier sharing equipment compatible with 5G Sub6 frequency band and started its commercial operation from the project of Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s TMG No.1 Building in November 2020, which is the first indoor 5G Infra-Sharing in Japan. JTOWER’s track records of 5G indoor Infra-Sharing has been expanding and the company will utilize its experience into the demonstration project.

JTOWER will further refine the technology, service-quality, and business models that the company has cultivated in Japan’s high-quality telecommunications industry, which boasts the highest quality in the world, and contribute to the digitization of society under the vision of “Infra-Sharing Services from Japan Lead the World”.

[Overview of demonstration project]
■Period: January 2023 to March 2023
■Location: Parkson Saigon Tourist Plaza (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)
5 floors above ground, 1 below, commercial complex
■Details of verification:
1) Building a verification environment
Develop 5G network facilities by Infra-Sharing in addition to the existing 4G network.
2) Verifying Applications Using 5G Network Equipment
Provide XR contents and evaluate the improvement of convenience for downloading large-volume data in an indoor 5G environment.
3) Verification of feasibility
Quantitatively demonstrate how much reduction has been achieved in capital investment, operation and maintenance costs and power consumption compared to the case in which Infra-Sharing had not been conducted and formulate a business model for actual introduction in other countries in ASEAN.

[Roles of each company]
JTOWER:
Project management, planning of verification contents and verification methods, extraction of technical and business issues, and summary of verification test results

SPN:
Establishment of an environment for indoor 5G infra-sharing, coordination with local stakeholders, implementation of radio wave measuring, etc.

KDDI Viet Nam:
Development and provision of services using 5G applications

[Structure of Indoor 5G Infra-Sharing System]

BTS：Base Transceiver Station
MDF：Main Distributing Frame
EPS：Electric Pipe Shaft
ACU：Active Conditioning Unit
DAU：Distributed Access Unit
DEU：Distributed Extension Unit
DPU：Distributed Point Unit

[Image of in-store antenna installation]

About JTOWER https://en.jtower.co.jp/
(1) Company name: JTOWER Inc.
(2) Place of HQ: 8-5-41 Akasaka Minato-ku Tokyo, Japan
(3) Representative: Atsushi Tanaka, Representative Director
(4) Business: Provision of telecommunications infrastructure sharing services and related solutions
(5) Established: June, 2012

About SPN https://www.spnjsc.vn/en/
(1) Company Name: Southern Star Telecommunication Equipment Joint Stock Company
(2) Place of HQ: 412 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, Ward 5, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
(3) Representative: Satoshi Igarashi, Chairman and Representative Director
(4) Business: Provision of telecommunications infrastructure sharing services in Vietnam, etc.
(5) Establishment: July, 2007

About KDDI Vietnam https://vn.kddi.com/en/
(1) Company name: KDDI VIETNAM CORPORATION HCMC Branch
(2) Place of Branch: 69 Ha Noi Highway, Thao Dien Ward, District 2, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
(3) Representative: Takakazu Tsunoda, Vice General Director
(4) Business: System integration, etc.
(5) Establishment: March, 2000