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VinaPhone extends its mobile coverage
Mobile service provider VinaPhone has successfully installed a base transceiver station at oil rig safeguarding post No1 (DK1) Bai Can, off the coast of the southernmost province of Ca Mau, bringing mobile coverage 200km from the mainland.
Vinaphone's mobile phone signal is now available within a radius of 20km from the Bai Can post, according to Le Hoang Phuoc, Director of VNPT in Ca Mau. He said that the VND6 billion (US$300,000) project was a part of a larger programme to expand the telecom's coverage to the nation's sea and island territories.
"This aims to facilitate socio-economic development, national defence and fishing in the country's southwestern seas, such as to deliver timely information or warnings about weather to local fishermen," Phuoc said.
The installation required two electrical generators, each weighing 400kg, as well as 30 solar cells and three wind power turbines to produce power, said Phuoc. In addition to the problem of limited space, the installation had to be completed during the current season when seas were calm.
The station officially received a signal from the Vinasat satellite on April 17.
Within the next few months, the station would be upgraded to allow mobile signal within a radius of 60 km, Phuoc said.
Nguyen Van Duan, a naval lieutenant, said that he was happy because he could now use his mobile phone at sea to call his family in Thanh Hoa Province.
With about 18,000 base transceiver stations, VinaPhone's coverage extends to all districts nationwide, including remote border areas and island districts. The telecom is planning to install an additional transceiver station off the coast of Vung Tau.
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