Vietnam - investment

Vietnam to Invest $1B on Broadband

HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnam's largest telecommunications company plans to invest US$1 billion (euro670 million) to upgrade the country's broadband Internet network and keep pace with economic growth.

Vietnam Post and Telecommunication Group will expand and improve the network over the next two years, said Bui Quoc Viet, spokesman for the state-owned firm.

The improved network will provide faster connections for Vietnam's nearly 19 million Internet users, he said. Roughly one-fifth of the country's 85 million people use the Internet.

"Vietnam is developing very quickly, and the number of Internet users is rising," Viet said. "We have to build a better Internet infrastructure."

The Vietnamese government wants to expand the country's broadband network into previously unserved regions of the country and link public high schools and government offices to the network.