Laos' Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MPT) joined hands with Huawei, LTC and other operators to organise the Laos ICT Expo 2019 which was held last week in Vientiane.

Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith attended and presided over the opening ceremony of the exhibition.

The exhibition aims to show how to nurture the 5G ecosystem and how to use 5G to help operators develop their business and national economic development under the leadership of Digital Laos.

5G is the next generation of wireless technology that is thought to change the way people live their lives and will play a vital role in autonomous driving, artificial intelligence, big data, the Internet of Things, smart cities and networks.

Thongloun and Minister of Post and Telecommunications Thansamay Kommasith visited the Huawei booth to learn about leading cases like 5G solutions and Smart Cities.

The extreme network speed and extremely low latency of 5G networks are the driving force behind the development of new business applications in the future.

At the summit, Huawei also showed the latest solutions such as 5G, smart cities, smart government, and Huawei Cloud.

Thansamay said the promotion of ICT technology to establish the digital economy was evident to all.

As a policymaker in the ICT industry, the ministry’s vision is to promote the industry as one of the forces supporting the country’s digital transformation and contribute to economic development based on the 2025 Strategic Plan and the 2030 ICT Vision.

The number of ICT companies in Laos has increased by about seven per cent each year, with start-ups increasing most rapidly. New technologies, especially 5G technology, cloud computing and big data have become a dominant force in the transformation of our lives, jobs, industries and services.

Huawei Laos CEO Mark Wong expressed high expectations for the vision of “Digital Laos”. He said the government was the most important driving force for the development of the digital economy.

“This ICT exhibition is a good communications platform organised by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, which provides opportunities for all ICT industry stakeholders to exchange ideas,” he said.

Huawei’s latest technology solutions, such as 5G and smart cities, were in line with Laos’ digital transformation vision and would support the nation to build a complete digital transformation ecosystem, he added.

Wong also revealed that up to now, Huawei had obtained 50 5G commercial contracts in 30 countries around the world, and more than 150,000 5G base stations have been shipped, ranking it as number one in the world.

He said that as the world’s major contributor to 5G, Huawei would continue to provide the best products and solutions for Laos’ digital economy, help realise the vision of a digital nation, and contribute to the transformation of Laos from being landlocked to a land-linked country. VIENTIANE TIMES