Viettel delivered Vietnam’s fastest mobile internet speeds, with its average downlink rate significantly higher than the country’s average of 54.3Mb/s, July data from a testing body set up by the Vietnam National Internet Centre (VNNIC) showed.

State-owned Viettel had an average download speed of 65.9Mb/s at end-July and an upload speed of 21.7Mb/s, i-Speed figures stated. It is the largest operator in the country with nearly 51 million mobile connections at end-June, data from GSMA Intelligence estimated.

Rival Mobifone’s down- and uplink rates were 37.2Mb/s and 20.6Mb/s, respectively, while VNPT’s were 53Mb/s and 21.5Mb/s.

The country’s average uplink rate was 21.2Mb/s.

VNNIC is part of the Ministry of Information and Communications.

The ministry’s portal ran a report earlier in the week claiming the average mobile internet download speed in the country rose 40 per cent between March and July to 54.3Mb/s.

A Viettel representative disputed this claim, telling Mobile World Live the data gathered for i-Speed’s evaluation was limited and “did not accurately reflect the real quality of the internet in Vietnam”.

The spokesperson added the amount of data recently increased significantly, changing the results, noting mobile operators have not taken any special actions on their networks. The representative added Viettel “basically completed turning off” 3G last year.

Last month, the government set a target to shut down 3G services in September 2028.