Vietnam’s information and communication technology (ICT) industry is forecast to grow more strongly in 2007 after the country officially joined the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Vietnam will enjoy a strong growth in post and telecoms services and IT sector, said Bui Thien Minh, deputy general director of Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT).
Total broadband internet subscribers this year are likely to reach 1 million compared to 300,000 in 2006, he added.
The mobile phone service is expected to lure six million new users, lower than last year’s roughly 10 million, Minh pointed out.
IT hardware production will have positive changes as this area is becoming more attractive to foreign investors, director of Post and Telecom Ministry’s IT Industry Department Nguyen Anh Tuan said.
The target of US$6-7 billion revenues of the hardware industry by 2010 is not too high, since the Intel Vietnam chip assembly and testing plant, which will be operational in 2009, will contribute US$5 billion to the IT sector, he confirmed.
Meanwhile, the software market will be lifted to a new high as more and more clients from United States and Japan place orders at Vietnamese IT firms, according to general director of Microsoft Vietnam Christophe Desriac.
David Knapp, general director of Motorola Vietnam added that the impacts of the country’s accession to the WTO will help increase market demand and push the whole economies development, creating opportunities for ICT development.
However, there is more to do to attract foreign investment in the post-WTO period and to maintain stable development in the next phase.
Domestic firms should become more familiar with international regulations and business practices concerning the export of post and telecoms services, Minister of Posts and Telecom Do Trung Ta said.
“They should also improve their service quality and human resources management,” the minister added.
In 2006, Vietnam posted a record 10 million new telephone subscribers, marking a year-on-year increase of 188 per cent, which brought the total number of telephones in Vietnam to 25.8 million.
The software industry, which includes 720 developers with 25,000 employees, generated US$350 million in revenue last year, up 3 per cent year-on-year, of which exports accounted for US$70 million.
The ICT sector lured US$2 billion of foreign direct investment and about US$500 million of official development assistance (ODA) in 2006. (VNN)
Vietnamese
