Top 10 ICT Events in 2008

At 5:17 on April 19, 2008, VINASAT-1, the first satellite of Vietnam, was launched into the orbit, bringing the Vietnamese telecom industry to a new high, opening a new area for the industry, asserting the space sovereignty of Vietnam and enabling the Vietnamese ICT industry to play a greater role in the process of international economic integration. Together with more than 200,000 km of undersea and ground fibre optic cables and modern microwave systems, the operation of VINASAT-1 helps complete the modern national information and communication infrastructure, increase the network capacity, enhance network security, promote and develop telecom, IT, commercial and entertainment services for depression, remote, border and island areas in Vietnam and the rest of the world.

 

From January 1, 2008, the Vietnam Post Corporation started official operations, marking an important milestone in the 63-year construction and development history of the post and telecom industry. The separation of post and telecommunication reflects the renovation of State management to suit the post and telecom development trend and Vietnam’s WTO entry commitments.

 

The split facilitates post and telecom enterprises to firmly integrate into the world economy. This also puts an end to overlap of post and telecom services, promotes healthy competition in the telecom market and initially creates a competition environment for the post market to enhance the competitiveness of Vietnamese companies.

On May 2, 2008, the Prime Minister issued the Decision 65/2008/QD-TTg on providing public utility post services and sketching out the development roadmap of the post industry. Accordingly, this sector will gradually trim its loss and make profit from 2013.

 

Apart from encouraging successes and progresses, the press and publication sector also encountered numerous difficulties in 2008. In the information competition, several officials, reporters and editors lost objectiveness, honesty and accuracy - the most fundamental press criteria. In publication activities, improper link in publication led to wrongdoings which left negative impacts on the society. In 2008, the Ministry of Information and Communication timely settled all wrongdoings committed by individuals and collectives to win the public trust and enhance the discipline in press and publication activities. This action makes journalists more confident and responsible for their work. The ministry is proactively completing the compilation of the amended Law on Press to submit to the National Assembly, the highest lawmaking body, in 2009. It also issued many regulations on press management, including the regulation on spokesperson, regulation on information provision, the regulation on source examination, to improve the activities of the fourth estate and enhance the career and social responsibility.

 

On August 28, 2008, the Prime Minister promulgated the Decree 97/2008/ND-CP on internet, a move described as the breakthrough development in managing internet and encouraging internet access in all aspects of economic and social lives.

 

The breakthrough of the Decree 97/2008/ND-CP is reflected in two aspects. Regarding the management of contents on the internet, the decree specifies the users’ rights to provide information and their responsibility for the contents sent to the internet. Regarding the provision of internet services, all economic sectors are allowed to provide all forms of internet services. All enterprises have the right to lease channels to directly connect with international internet terminals or internet transit points. At the same time, the ruling also forces providers with internet infrastructures to provide transmission lines and create conducive conditions for companies without the necessary infrastructure to provide broadband internet services. The Vietnamese internet sector maintained a considerable growth. At the end of November 2008, Vietnam reportedly had more than 20.67 million internet users, or 24.20 per cent of the population. The country also had 2 million broadband subscribers.

 

In July 2008, the Ministry of Information and Communication, for the first time, released the report on rankings of websites operated by ministries and local governments based on the number of visits and the availability of public services. This portrayed the development of websites operated by state-funded organs. This was one of important contents to implement the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 43/2008/QD-TTg dated March 24, 2008 on ratification of the plan for applying IT to operations of State-funded organs in 2008. The IT application plan is the first nation-level project after the Project 112 and reflects the determination of the Vietnamese Government in accelerating IT applications to build and develop the e-government in Vietnam.

 

6. Over VND1,200 billion for investment, construction and continuation of public utility telecom provision in underprivileged regions

In 2008, the Ministry of Information and Communication assigned four units: VNPT, Viettel, EVN Telecom and Vishipel to invest VND1,200 billion to support the development and supply of public telecom services in more than 189 districts and nearly 600 communes in far-lying, border and island regions. The outcomes include the activation of 600,000 new mainline telephone subscribers and 23,810 new home internet subscriptions, the continuation of 1,743,259 landline telephone subscriptions and 26,974 internet subscriptions, the opening of 574 public telephone points and 624 public internet access points, the continuation of 4,361 public telephone points and 590 public internet access points, the installation of 1,000 new HF radio transceivers, used for fishing boats, and the maintenance of 16 coastal information stations for informing floods, storms, search and rescue.

 

In 2008, to speed up the construction and completion of telecom networks to improve the service quality and edge up competitiveness, telecom companies focused their investment on upgrading their systems and equipment and expanding network capacity by erecting new base transceiver stations (BTS). The new facilities enabled telecom firms to minimise connection interruptions and congestions and improve the service quality. By the end of November 2008, more than 13,700 new BTSs were installed to serve 79.1 million telephone subscribers, in which mobile phone users accounted for 83.5 per cent. The tele-density reached 92.6 telephone main lines per 100 residents.

 

The amended Law on Publication 2004 was ratified by the National Assembly at its third meeting session on June 3, 2008. The act completed the legal corridor to improve the quality of publication activities in all aspects and tune up the publication activities in the process of international economic integration. In 2008, many acts were introduced to strengthen the construction and completion of legal corridor and policies for information and communication technology industry. The Ministry of Information and Communication was assigned by the National Assembly and Government to build five bills, which will be reviewed and ratified by the National Assembly. The five draft laws include the Law on Frequency, the Law on Post, the Law on Telecom, the amended Law on Press and the amended Law on Publication. Together with the laws, a number of legal documents were issued, including: The decree on organisation and operation of information and communication inspectors, the decree on administrative penalty on internet violations, the project for public utility post service provision ad financial regime for the provision of public utility post services, the Prime Minister’s decision on regime and policy for IT human resource training, and the circular on blog management.

 

The Directorate of Radio Broadcasting, Television and Electronic Information was founded to exercise the planning, orientation and instruction concerning radio broadcasting, television and electronic information activities. Since then, Vietnam had an authority for managing both contents and techniques used in the radio broadcasting and television and activities to provide contents on the electronic media and internet. The presence of this organ is expected to support the quick and robust development of the broadcasting and television sector, synchronise technical systems and orient contents in the new context.

 

The Directorate of International Information manages information related to foreign affairs from the central to local levels. It actively serves the Party and the State in the process of international economic integration and in the cause of industrialisation and modernisation.

 

The Prime Minister approved the project to adjust the local telephone service tariffs. The Ministry of Information and Communication issued the decision on base service tariff for home landline telephones, which is set to come into effect on January 1, 2009. The base local service tariff is VND20,000/month/telephone line, or VND667/day/telephone line, and the base call charge is VND200/minute. The local coverage is defined as the entire territory of a province/city.