AT&T brings ‘internet of things’ to Vietnam

Ngoc Huynh

The Internet of Things concept is transforming the global economy. As a part of the working visit of the US-ASEAN Business Council to Hanoi in mid-March, Sandy Verma, the US’ leading telco AT&T’s senior director of Asia Pacific for Internet of Things (IoT) Solutions, talked to VIR’s Khanh Tran on the outlook of the new services in Vietnam.

AT&T is one of the global leaders in the IoT field. How could IoT be applied in Vietnam to bring benefits to Vietnamese enterprises?

IoT technologies are where machines and objects, people, processes and assets talk to each other. Customers are benefiting from this globally connected space. AT&T has global expertise in developing and deploying these technologies. There are different IoT applications we provide in both consumer and industrial space.

In Vietnam, we believe IoT could greatly benefit the supply chain, logistics and shipping companies. It’s all about solving business problems. My challenge to businesses in Vietnam is that whether they have complete visibility of their supply chain? Nobody does. Today technology is transforming our business. For example we have a turnkey solution with small light-weight location and sensor-based technologies, called cargo view and container view that will help these companies keep track and communicate location, temperature, shock and pressure of their shipping containers, thus increasing that supply chain visibility.

Do you see any opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises to apply AT&T’s IoT solutions?

Absolutely, several sectors in Vietnam could immediately benefit from IoT solutions, especially in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors. In 2006, AT&T extended its global business to Vietnam through an agreement with Vietnam’s leading telco Viettel. As a result of this collaboration, AT&T is able to offer a range of advanced networking services to multinational enterprise customers. In 2007, AT&T added to its existing representative office in Hanoi with the opening of a new representative office in Ho Chi Minh City.

AT&T has also opened up its network for partners around the world. Small developers in Vietnam can be part of AT&T’s ecosystem. If you’re a developer in Ho Chi Minh City, you can make applications to run on AT&T’s network. Or if you’re an electronics parts maker, we have a certification process. You can be certified to be part of our network and get connected to customers that will buy your products.

Many foreign companies have jumped into the Vietnamese telecommunications market, but haven’t been particularly successful. As a global investor in this field, what challenges do you see here?

The largest barrier to entry is market access. Under the current laws and regulations, there is a 70 per cent limit on foreign ownership in companies providing value added services. And the most restrictive regulation at the moment is that a foreign company can only own 49 per cent in a telecommunications company with infrastructure in the country. But these issues are under negotiations in the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

By allowing further access to the market, companies like AT&T would then be able to offer these new 21st century services in Vietnam, helping the local economy grow and prosper.

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Source : http://www.vir.com.vn/