Telecommunications develop unevenly

Viet Nam’s telecommunications surge over the last decade has immensely benefited residents, but its spread has not been even, experts say.

The sector also faces emerging problems of falling profits, quality and security, they add.

The strong development of telecommunications including Internet services has delivered a lot of essential services to local residents, according to an assessment review of the sector by the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications.

In 2000, Viet Nam Post and Telecommunications (VNPT) was the biggest enterprise in the industry. Then, the fees for telecommunication services were very high, with just 300,000 mobile and 3.5 million landline subscribers.

The entry of other companies into the market, today’s telecom giants like Viettel, EVN Telecom, FPT Telecom, Gtel and Ha Noi Telecom, completely transformed the market. In the early part of this decade, the telecom industry was considered the fastest growing market in the world.

Today, telecommunication fees in Viet Nam are as low as in other countries in the region. There are 156 million subscribers of whom 90 per cent are mobile phone users. Average density is 181 telephones per 100 people and there are 25 million Internet users.

“Internet and telecommunications have reached significant growth but it’s not equally developed among localities, ministries and industries,” Dang Huu, former head of the National Steering Committee for Information and Communication Technologies told the Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) newspaper.

“More incentive policies for private companies investing in the Internet; and for promoting e-Government and online public services are necessary,” he added.

There are also aspects to telecommunications development that are threatening its sustainability, experts said.

“Profit in turnover, turnover per subscriber, network quality, working capacity and security in the industry has decreased year by year,” said deputy minister of Information and Telecommunications, Le Nam Thang. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam Telecom, Vietnam telecom maket