Network operators help each other if there is an incident during Tet

According to Deputy Director of the Department of Telecommunications Nguyen Phong Nha, businesses are directed to develop rescue and support plans when necessary. “For example, performing roaming in areas with limited signal quality, especially in remote areas and places at risk of being affected by natural disasters,” he said.

Along with that, the Ministry of Science and Technology requires businesses to expand transmission capacity and domestic and international connection bandwidth, ensuring that network congestion does not occur during times of high subscriber traffic such as New Year’s Eve, peak days of Tet holidays and on traffic routes when people move a lot.

The network must also deploy additional mobile broadcasting stations in amusement parks, fireworks display areas and festival venues. The network system is required to be upgraded, maintained and “frozen” to ensure stable operation throughout the holiday.

According to Mr. Nha, the above contents have been built into a specific plan by the enterprise. This is experience drawn from the coordination between the Ministry of Science and Technology and the network during many previous major holidays. The Department of Telecommunications believes that “communication during Tet this year will be guaranteed smoothly”.

A representative of Viettel Network Corporation (Viettel Networks) estimates that during the 2026 Tet holiday, about 7.2 million subscribers will move from central cities to localities. “The peak falls on December 26-27 and the afternoon returns on January 5-6,” this person said.

Viettel predicts that during Tet, peak 5G traffic will increase 5 times compared to last year’s Tet and 42% higher than normal days. Total data traffic (4G and 5G) on the highest day can increase by 30% compared to the same period in 2025 and increase by 10% compared to normal days. In the opposite direction, voice traffic is expected to decrease by 16%.

In fact, in 2025, Viettel’s network will experience “sudden congestion” on some crowded traffic routes during peak times. Learning from experience, the business has reviewed the entire system, added analysis tools to early detect the risk of network congestion and proactively control access when traffic increases.

This year, Viettel deployed more than 11,000 solutions to ensure mobile service quality, a decrease of 10,000 compared to 2025 thanks to the use of AI in operations. AI directly participates in predicting the scale of festivals and events with about 92% accuracy compared to humans.

Meanwhile, VNPT predicts that during Tet 2026, people’s demand for using telecommunications services will have a clear shift. Users increasingly prioritize mobile broadband-based services such as data, OTT, and social networks, while traditional voice and SMS traffic continues to decline.

Based on data from recent years, VNPT believes that the telecommunications network during the Lunar New Year will not experience major changes compared to normal days. However, the network operator still focuses on ensuring service quality and information security.