Vietnam to open further telecoms market, ministry says

The Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) pledges to introduce new policies to encourage both local and international investors in the telecommunications sector.

At a forum on developing Vietnam’s telecom industry in Hanoi September 14, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Le Nam Thang said the government would continue with policies to open up the local market and speed up global integration, including the telecom industry.

“The telecom sector has achieved impressive growth in recent years and narrowed the gap with developed countries, which has benefited economic growth and improved the living standard of local people,” Thang said.

The forum drew over 150 participants from local and foreign telecom enterprises, research institutions and consultancy companies.

They discussed issues on policies and incentives for the development of telecom industry; broadband development trend; opportunities for introducing new value-added services on mobile phones.

Nitin Bhat from Frost & Sullivan, a global leading consultant in IT and communications, has evaluated Vietnam as a major market, with a constantly high growth rate.

He forecast a slow-down in growth in the immediate future and urged more investment in the country’s infrastructure as well as market surveys to meet market demands, which would help guarantee business success.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) also sees Vietnam as a rapidly growing market.

By the end of August this year, the country had 158.8 million phone subscribers, with over 90% using mobile phones.

Compared with 2005, the density of telephones has increased 9.5 times, mobile subscription up 15.6 times, broadband internet subscriptions by 16 times and international connections by 28.2 times.

The telecoms industry had revenues of US$6.8 billion in 2009, rising 2.5 folds from that of 2006 – VCCI

Tags: Vietnam Telecom, Vietnam telecom maket