Viettel Becomes Qualcomm's First Global 6G Early Access Partner: What It Means for AI-Native Networks

Joint 6G Base Station Development

Under the program, Viettel and Qualcomm will jointly research, design, develop, and manufacture 6G base stations (transceiver stations) . Qualcomm provides the chipset platform and development tools, while Viettel handles the full system integration — R&D, manufacturing, installation, testing, and quality assessment . The scope also extends to AI, data center technologies, and advanced digital products, broadening the collaboration well beyond radio access .

Viettel will gain early access to Qualcomm's 6G chipsets, technology platforms, development tools, and dedicated engineering support, giving it a head start in mastering the new technology before broad commercial availability .

Roadmap to Pre-Commercial 6G Call — Early 2029

Viettel has laid out a phased roadmap :

• 2026–2027 — 6G architecture R&D and foundational research.
• 2028 — Pre-commercial system and device trials.
• Early 2029 — Target for Vietnam's first pre-commercial 6G call on a homegrown system developed and manufactured by Viettel.
• 2029 onwards — Commercial deployment.

Multiple Vietnamese state-affiliated news outlets (Tuoi Tre, VnExpress, VOVWorld) report the pre-commercial call target as "early 2029" , consistent with Viettel's earlier MWC Barcelona 2026 announcements targeting commercial launch by 2029 . At MWC, Viettel also joined a broader global 6G alliance initiated by Qualcomm that includes partners like Google, Meta, Microsoft, Samsung, Ericsson, and others .

Existing 5G Collaboration Track Record

The 6G partnership builds on a nearly two-decade relationship between Viettel and Qualcomm :

• 2024 — Viettel became the first global partner to deploy 5G Open RAN stations using Qualcomm chipsets in live commercial networks, commercializing over 2,300 "Make in Vietnam" base stations .
• 2025 — Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon visited Viettel High Tech, and the two signed a strategic cooperation agreement to position Vietnam as a major tech R&D hub . Notably, Viettel is the only global partner to receive Qualcomm's 5G source code for joint development .
• Viettel Chairman Tao Duc Thang noted the "strong foundation of collaboration through the successful deployment of 5G Open RAN infrastructure at scale" .

Qualcomm's Broader 6G Vision: An AI-Native Network

Qualcomm's vision for 6G is fundamentally different from previous generations :

• 6G is being designed as an AI-native platform — the first network generation where artificial intelligence is built into the architecture from day one, not added as an overlay .
• The framework rests on three pillars: connectivity, high-performance compute (distributed computing), and wide-area sensing .
• Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon outlined at MWC Barcelona 2026 that 6G will integrate computing from base stations to data centers, effectively operating as an intelligent connectivity-and-sensing fabric for the AI era .
• Beyond faster speeds, 6G will enable digital twinning, intelligent radios with integrated sensing, virtualized/cloud RAN, and AI-driven services across devices, edge, and cloud .

The U.S. has also signaled strategic intent: a Boston Consulting Group report cited by Qualcomm shows 6G will be the first AI-native network infrastructure at scale, with at least 600 MHz of full-power mid-band spectrum needed by 2029 to maintain U.S. mobile leadership .

Bottom line: Viettel being Qualcomm's first Early Access partner is significant because it gives a Vietnamese vendor a seat at the table during the architecture-definition phase of 6G — not just as a user of standards but as a co-developer of the AI-native 6G platform, leveraging a proven 5G Open RAN track record, and targeting a homegrown pre-commercial 6G call in early 2029.