Introduction
On 16 June 2025, the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction issued Instruction No. 001 on the Building of Telecommunications Infrastructure in Towns, Residential Areas, Borey, Co-Owned Buildings, Commercial Buildings, Shopping Malls, Industrial Areas, Special Economic Zones, and Other Designated Areas or Constructions (“Instruction“). In line with the 2015 Telecommunications Law and 2019 Construction Law, this Instruction aims to advise (i) construction owners, (ii) developers of boreys, and (iii) investors of industrial areas, special economic zones, tourism resorts, or other designated areas, to ensure that telecommunications infrastructure therein is efficient, modern, safe, environmentally friendly, and capable of supporting socio-economic development and high-quality public services.
Key Features
In this Update, we highlight some of the key features of the Instruction as follows:
- To allocate and reserve appropriate locations or rooms for the installation of telecommunications equipment, the construction or installation of antenna towers, and the development of telecommunications cable network infrastructure. The location, size, and layout plan for such infrastructure and service provision must comply with applicable technical requirements:
- Antenna tower station: an area of 2.25 sqm (1.5m x 1.5m) and 12 sqm (2m x 6m or 3m x 4m) in residential boreys, industrial areas, special economic zones, resorts, or other designated areas.
- In-building solution (“IBS”) installation: a room of at least 12sqm (2m x 6m or 3m x 4m) must be reserved for telecommunications equipment installation as well as IBS infrastructure system in commercial buildings, co-owned building, shopping malls and other buildings.
- Telecommunications cable network infrastructure: Telecommunications cable network infrastructure (i) that can serve as a transport network and a connection point to antenna towers for the provision of mobile phone network and/or last-mile network including a fiber termination box for FTTH (Fiber to the Home) and mobile phone network services; and (ii) that allows customers to switch between internet service providers without the need to install a new network.
- To cooperate with telecommunications operators in the construction or installation of antenna tower stations, IBS systems, or telecommunications cable network infrastructure in the relevant construction projects in compliance with applicable construction and telecommunications technical regulations as well as any other applicable regulations.
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