On September 6, Hung and his team had a working session at Hao Dat Tea Cooperative in Tan Cuong commune in Thai Nguyen province.

Dao Thanh Hao, director of Hao Dat, said the cooperative produces tea with VietGAP standards and strictly follows an optimal production and trade process, including cultivation, harvesting, processing, preservation and distribution.

“Since the Covid-19 outbreak, the cooperative has changed its sales method, shifting to sell products on e-commerce platforms instead of relying on traditional channels. This has helped sales increase by 20 percent,” Hao said, adding that many people can build houses, buy cars and get rich from tea production.

She said that the cooperative’s members hope to get technological support from the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) to boost sales.

Hung said the cooperative is following an effective model which exploits local advantages. Thanks to digital transformation, it has gained achievements in expanding markets and improving revenue.

He believes that farmers should be accompanied by technology firms to improve all stages of the production chain on ecommerce and boost sales.

On the same day, Hung paid a working visit to Viettel Thai Nguyen. Its director Dang Thanh Tuan reported that in 2023, Viettel Thai Nguyen had about 100,000 2G-Only subscribers, but thanks to large-scale propaganda campaigns and active support of people, Viettel Thai Nguyen has completed the 2G cessation.

It is expected that 100 percent of 2G-only subscribers will convert to 4G prior to September 30.

Viettel Thai Nguyen’s representative raised a question to Hung about the purpose of raising the public administrative services proportion to 70 percent, the same as in developed countries, and about the low proportion of using digital signature in Thai Nguyen.

Hung said previously, Viettel had just developed telecommunications infrastructure to serve communications demand, but it shifted to digital infrastructure with five types of infrastructure. Mobile infrastructure can provide communications and entertainment services. In order to have infrastructure that serves work, there must be fiber optic cable infrastructure. Around 30 percent of households still don’t have fiber optic cable service.

Regarding data infrastructure, Hung said as Thai Nguyen is the center of the region, there should be data infrastructure in the area. In addition, there should be infrastructure that switches from the real world to a virtual world – IoT (Internet of Things). This will be the largest infrastructure and new subscribers will be there.

Talking about digital transformation and digital signature development, Hung mentioned Hao Dat Tea Cooperative as an example, After Covid-19, tea sales increased significantly as the cooperative sells products via digital channels as well.

However, Hung commented that sales in the digital environment remain very rudimentary and not professional. Viettel still hasn't thought of helping cooperatives like Hao Dat digitize in production and sales.

If the sales of tea cooperatives increase by 2-3 times, many tea farming households would escape poverty. If so, the revenue of postal and freight forwarding companies will also increase. The business model will help all involved parties get rich with technological products and knowledge. It is a sustainable business model which will help ThaiNguyen succeed in being digitized. 

“Viettel Thai Nguyen needs to find a ‘symbiotic’ mode for mutual development,” Hung said.

Regarding the popularizing of digital signatures, MIC plans to exempt fees for popular public services such as education and healthcare. The State must have at least 70 percent of records to be online by the end of 2025. 

The government needs to encourage the use of digital signatures with reasonable policies. For example, all teachers should use digital signatures, so that parents can follow them.

“The revenue from traditional telecommunications has stopped growing, so it is necessary to find new spaces and new momentum for growth. The Party Committee Secretary General said digital transformation is revolutionary, so there must be new ways to find new spaces and new products and services. Viettel has been growing well over the last 20 years, but if it cannot find new spaces, it will go downhill."

Thai Khang - Hoang Ha