Viet Nam had the highest rate of new digital service consumers in the Southeast Asia region last year, it was reported at the recent World Mobile Broadband & ICT 2021 conference in Ha Noi.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Phan Tam speaks at the event (Photo: vtv.vn)

The event is an important forum for telecommunications managers and experts to promote the development of services in the Vietnamese market. The theme of this year is developing 5G and broadband infrastructure to enhance the digital transformation process in Vietnam.

The report "e-Conomy SEA 2020”, which is conducted by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company, showed that Viet Nam's digital economy reached a total value of 14 billion USD last year, 2 billion USD higher than that of the same period of the previous year.

Out of the total number of digital service users in Viet Nam, new users account for 41 percent. This turned Viet Nam into a country with the highest rate of new digital service consumers in the region.

Statistics from the General Statistics Office said that Viet Nam was one of the three Asian countries with positive growth with the size of the economy is more than 343 billion USD. Singapore reached 337.5 billion USD and Malaysia 336.3. billion USD.

The Vietnamese Government has defined one of the pillars of the digital economy as the telecommunications infrastructure, including both mobile and fixed broadband infrastructure.

The development of broadband infrastructure has paved the way for all other economic sectors to grow within the past two to three years.

The total number of fixed broadband subscribers in Vietnam exceeded 17.2 million, and the total number of mobile broadband subscribers reached nearly 69.5 million by the end of last month, reported the Viet Nam Telecommunications Authority.

However, in order to contribute to the realisation of the national digital transformation project by 2030 and further promote the digital economy, telecommunication investment and exploitation activities in Viet Nam, it still needs a lot of innovation.

Assessing the development of Viet Nam's telecommunications market, Tran Duc Lai, chairman of the Radio and Electronics Association of Viet Nam, said this year, operators have deployed 5G and achieved very positive results.

The country will test 5G on a large scale and even with Make- in-Viet Nam devices from this year.

A study by the National Institute of Information and Communications Strategy said that the contribution of 5G to the national GDP growth is forecast to reach 7.34 percent by 2025.

The socio-economic development strategies for the 2021-2025 and 2021-2030 periods have repeatedly mentioned digital transformation, telecommunications, digital technology, digital government, and digital skills.

Science, technology, innovation and digital transformation are some of the strategic breakthroughs of the next 10 years to help Viet Nam develop and be among the top middle-income countries by 2030 and high-income industrial countries in 2045.

Source: VNA