Over 70 pct of Vietnamese population use internet by 2020

On September 22, 2010, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung approved the “Converting Vietnam into an information and communications technology power” project. Accordingly, the total ICT workforce is estimated at one million and internet users accounting for over 70 % of the population.

The project also aims at developing an information technology (IT) workforce of international standard, making the IT sector a key ingredient of the national economy, building up nationwide broadband telecommunication infrastructure and effectively raising IT applications in all areas of socioeconomic development, defence, and security. ICT is considered an important driving force for the nation’s sustainable development as it helps improve the transparency in State bodies, save time and costs for businesses, organizations and people. By 2020, the ICT sector will account for at least 8-10 % of GDP.

By 2015, Vietnam companies will be capable of designing and manufacturing equipment to replace imported ones. Vietnam will be one of 15 top providers of software outsourcing and digital content services. The scale and professionalism of software companies will be uplifted to compete with foreign rivals on the domestic market.

Additionally, with respect to broadband infrastructure, Vietnam strives to bring internet connections to all wards, communes and schools in the country and expand the mobile communication coverage to 85 % of the population by 2015 and 95 % by 2020. Vietnam will stand among 65 leading countries of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Specially, most families will have telephones, 20-30 % of households will have internet-connected computers by 2011, 90 % of households will have television sets by 2015 and most households will use digital services by 2020.

The project also places emphasis on building up ICT companies and markets, enhancing operating efficiency of leading ICT companies like the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), the Military Telecommunication Group (Viettel), and the Vietnam Multimedia Corporation (VTC). By 2020, many Vietnamese IT companies will become global, bringing up the ICT revenues to US$15 billion.

Main tasks of the project include developing IT human resources and industry, improving telecomm infrastructure, building and deploying family-centred solutions, applying IT to companies, and strengthening IT research capacity to gradually create new products. The project prioritises boosting information capacity, forecasting and orienting IT human resources demand on the domestic and global markets, promoting high-quality training human resources and consultants, and provide IT skills for users in rural areas. The State will give priority to investments for research, creation, purchase or transfer of new technologies to create Vietnamese-trademarked products of high global competitiveness and export value like smart devices, and energy efficiency devices. The State will also support ICT applications in enterprises and manufacturing of terminal devices for Vietnam.

To achieve those goals, proposed solutions include strengthening information activities, uplifting public awareness of ICT, developing telecom infrastructure, investing in creative products, and building and completing the regime for using IT products. Specially, Vietnam underscores international IT cooperation to expand markets and diversify products.

With proper approaches, the project has contributed significantly to improving the quality of living conditions of the people, satisfying information needs and catching general international development trends. – VCCI

Tags: Vietnam Internet users

Posted by VBN on Oct 9 2010. Filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry