Vietnam - digital divide

Vietnam to narrow digital divide

Rural Vietnamese people will have the opportunity to gain access to telecom services as the Ministry of Information and Communication has decided to increase investment in public telecom services in rural areas.

The ministry says that this year, the Government will spend VND1 trillion deploying public telecom services in rural and remote areas.
The ministry says that this year, the Government will spend VND1 trillion deploying public telecom services in rural and remote areas, up 20% from the figure in the ministry's original plan.

In a recent meeting in Hanoi, Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Tran Duc Lai said the higher expenditure would help enhance the connection capacity in these areas and provided disaster information for residents living in coastal and border areas.

It will also contribute to improving the living standards for local residents, he said.

The ministry said the country now had around 254 districts without access to landlines, nearly 2,000 communes without Internet connection.

At present, only 848 communes in 187 districts in 53 provinces nationwide have public telecom services available, which benefit around 20 million residents there.

"That is a small number that brings disadvantages for socio-economic development in these regions," Lai added.

To narrow the digital divide, the ministry has asked four telecom providers, including Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group, the military-run Viettel Telecom, EVN Telecom and the Vietnam Marine Information Company (Visphel) to implement public telecom service projects.

Visphel is responsible to implement projects to provide information for vessels.

The ministry targets to bring the Internet to 30% of communes where public Internet access points are not available.

The ministry has recently approved a program to develop public telecom services in rural and remote sites in the 2008-2010 period. The program is envisaged supplying public telecom services for 4,159 communes nationwide.

The goal is to have 1.2-1.5 landline phones for every 100 rural residents. The provinces benefiting from the program include Thanh Hoa, Cao Bang, Ha Giang, Phu Tho, Gia Lai, Son La, Hoa Binh, Ha Tinh and Thai Binh.