Vietnam reported 18.5 million new telephone subscribers last year, almost equal to the combined figure of the three previous years, the Ministry of Post and Communications said.
The new customers have increased the total number to 46 million of subscribers in the year, or 54 telephones for every 100 people. Of the total, 75 per cent are mobile phone users.
Broadband internet services (ADSL) also saw strong expansion in the year. The country had 5.1 million internet subscribers and 18.2 million internet users, or 21.6 per cent of the population-the high average rate in the world, according to the General Statistics Office.
Fifty percent of the total 8,020 commune cultural post offices nationwide have access to the Internet, the GSO added.
Notably, electronic products, including computer sets and components, posted an export value of nearly US$2.2 billion in 2007.
Last year is considered a bumper year for the country’s information and technology sector with huge investment made by the world leading IT firms, including Intel, Foxconn, Nidec, Compal, Panasonic and Renesas.
Such IT service providers as Yahoo, Microsoft, IBM, Vodafone and eBay are intensifying their operations in Vietnam with the aim of making the country’s IT industry an attractive sector for foreign investment.
With the figures, Vietnam becomes one of the world’s fastest nations in telecom development.
The country expects the ICT industry to bring in US$6 billion-US$7 billion in revenue by 2010. (GSO Edition 2007, VietNamNet)
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