As of the end of August, the number of telephone subscribers in Vietnam is estimated at 128.8 million, a 4.3 percent year-on-year increase. However, the number of new subscribers this month alone has continued to decline sharply compared to the same period last year.

According to the General Statistics Office, 15.5 million of the 128.8 million are landline telephone subscribers, an increase of 0.4 percent, and 113.3 million are mobile subscribers, up by 4.8 percent.

It is reported that the growth rate of telephone subscribers in August alone fell 24.7 percent over the same period last year. Of the above-mentioned subscribers, there are more than 40,200 fixed subscribers, a decrease of 74.8 percent, and 6.7 million are mobile subscribers, down 23.7 percent.

The growth rate of telephone subscribers this month coincides with the increase in July. In the first seven months, the number of telephone subscribers also increased 4.3 percent over the same period last year, with fixed subscribers rising by 0.4 percent and mobile subscribers up by 4.8 percent.

In August, total net revenue from post and telecommunications is estimated to reach 98.4 trillion VND (4.7 billion USD) for a 19.4 percent year-on-year increase. According to data from the office, by the end of August, the country will be home to 4.1 million subscribers, up 17.5 percent. The number of Internet users by late August climbed to 31.3 million for a 22.9 percent increase.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Tran Duc Lai said that since the beginning this year, local telecoms markets had started to become saturated. The number of telecom subscribers is in excess of demand. He added that the telecoms industry would face great challenges in the domestic telecoms market./.