Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam has called on the information and communications sector to make strong breakthroughs to turn information technology into a driver of industries, services and the national administrative system.

Speaking at a conference to review the performance of the Ministry of Information and Communications in 2013 and initiate its tasks for 2014 in Hanoi on December 26, the government leader said the new phase of globalisation requires Vietnam to create new momentum to race in the current fierce competition.

The information and communications sector needs to press ahead with its pioneering role in catching up with the era’s new trends and exploiting technologies to help the country gather the new momentum, Dam said.

In 2013, the telecommunication sector is estimated to earn revenues of 9.9 billion USD. Its total phone subscribers hit 130 million, 93 percent of which are mobile phones subscribers.

There are 31 million Internet users and 5.17 broadband Internet subscribers.

Over 263,000 domains with Vietnamese names have been registered, marking an average growth rate of 172 percent a year and keeping the country in the number one position in Southeast Asia in national domain registration and activation.
 
The national end-to-end IPv6 network is being shaped step by step as set out.

Total revenues of the information technology industry are estimated at more than 20 billion USD.

All state offices have launched their web portals, providing over 100,000 online public services.-VNA