Phone subscriptions double Vietnam’s population

With 44.5 million new phone subscribers last year, the total number of phone subscriptions in Vietnam topped 170 million by the end of December, 2010, according to the general Statistical Office (GSO).

Of the figure, only 16.4 million are land line subscriptions, up 5.1 percent from a year earlier.

The number of mobile phone subscriptions marked a 39.8 percent year-on-year increase to hit nearly 154 million.

The Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group, also known as VNPT, holds the largest share in the market, with 88.9 million subscribers as of end-December, up 25.3 percent compared with a year earlier. About 11.7 million of them are fixed phone subscribers and the rest are mobile subscribers.

The total number of fixed and mobile phone subscriptions in the country nearly doubles its population of 86.9 million. However, telecom firms said that more than half of the mobile phone numbers were disposable ones.

The GSO also announced a growth in the number of internet subscribers in the country for 2010. By the end of December, the total reached 3.77 million, a 27.4 percent year-on-year increase. The VNPT had 2.62 million subscribers, up 21.8 percent.

The number of internet users was estimated at 27.4 million at the end of last year, a 20.2-percent hike compared with late 2009.

Total net sales for the postal and telecommunications industry in 2010 was estimated at 138.8 trillion dong (US$6.6 billion), up 26.5 percent on 2009. The VNPT had sales of 90 trillion dong ($4.2 billion), up 26 percent. – Thanhnien

Tags: Vietnam Mobile subscribers