VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam plans to fulfill the program on developing wired and wireless broadband infrastructure by 2020. However, it is very likely that the program would be completed before the deadline.

Challenges still exist in wired broadband

Le Thi Ngoc Mo, Deputy Director of the Telecommunication Agency under the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) at a conference held on January 15, 2013, that Vietnam has had a plan on broadband development by 2020. She also said that the broadband development has been going very well, but challenges still exist in fixed broadband.

According to her, the development of fixed broadband subscribers has slowed down over the last two years. Meanwhile, Vietnam wants to see the number of fixed broadband subscribers increasing.

At present, fixed line network is considered the best broadband infrastructure, while the Vietnam Post and Telecommunication Group (VNPT) provides 90 percent of the total services.

However, the service has been on the sharp decrease, estimated by 25 percent per annum. VNPT once had 13 million subscribers in the golden age, while the number has dropped to 6.5 million, and it is expected to decrease further.

While the actual number of fixed line subscribers decreases sharply, a target has been set up that the number of subscribers would be five times higher than the current number.

The requirements on the connection speed have also been cited as a big challenge for Vietnam’s telecom.

As for Vietnam’s broadband Internet, ADSL services now account for up to 80 percent. However, the technology has slow speed and calculated in Kbps. Meanwhile, the unit of calculation in developed countries is Mbps and higher than Gbps to be enough to satisfy the demand.

Vietnam has decided that broadband telecom would reach out to 90 percent of communes in the country by 2015 and to 100 percent by 2020. The modest target turns out to be a big challenge for Vietnam’s telecom industry, which needs the support from the state to reach out to remote areas.

“There is a very important solution is VTCI – a fund for developing telecom for public purposes. It is expected that the fund would have VND10 trillion dong in 2013-2020.

Mobile broadband would be dominant

Doan Quang Hoan, Head of the Radio Frequencies Department of MIC, said mobile broadband would become popular, because this is considered the most important infrastructure item of the knowledge-based economy.

A report by the World Bank has pointed out that every additional 10 percent of population using broadband would lead to the 1.21 percent additional increase in GDP in developed economies and 1.38 percent in developing economies.

Hoan said that in the near future, Vietnam would have a high demand for broadband infrastructure, because video communications would be dominant. The number of 2G subscribers would develop more slowly, while the number of 3G would increase rapidly. HSPA would still be the most potential technology until 2020.

Experts believe that Vietnam has a very high quality wireless broadband infrastructure. 2013 is considered the year of 3G subscriber development. However, Vietnam would not witness a “boom,” and it is still in the early development stage of mobile broadband.

Hoan went on to say that though Vietnam is a potential market, there is a restriction in the purchasing power. In developed countries, the transport infrastructure facilitates the use of broadband services, while in Vietnam, the conditions are not really favorable, since personal vehicles, not public transport, are more popular.

Buu Dien