Internet - important element of digital transformation in Vietnam

According to Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Pham Duc Long, the internet is an essential piece of infrastructure to carry out national digital transformation.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Pham Duc Long highlights Vietnam's internet achievements after 25 years. (Photo: Minh Son/Vietnam+)

At the Internet Day 2022 taking place on December 7 in Hanoi, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Pham Duc Long emphasized the importance of the internet in the digital transformation in Vietnam.

Vietnam - strong telecommunications – internet country

The Vietnam Internet Association (VIA) and Vietnam Internet Network Information Centre (VNNIC) coordinated to organise the Internet Day 2022 in Hanoi on December 7 to look back on the 25-year development process of the internet in Vietnam.

Vietnam’s internet history started on November 19, 1997, when, at the headquarters of the General Department of the Post Office, on behalf of the National Coordinating Committee on Internet of Vietnam, the Director General of the General Department of the Post Office Mai Liem Truc held an international press conference to officially announce Vietnam’s connection to the global internet.

Deputy Minister Pham Duc Long said that the decision to open up and connect to the global internet was a brave decision, showing a long-term vision and integration, contributing to a comprehensive change in the country's economic and social life.

Vietnam started seven years later than other countries, but after 25 years, Vietnam has risen to catch up with other countries in the region and the world, becoming a strong country in telecommunications.

Vu Hoang Lien, Chairman of the Vietnam Internet Association, said that Vietnam was the country with the 12th highest number of internet users worldwide and sixth out of 35 countries and territories in the Asian region.

Vietnamese users spend an average of nearly seven hours a day participating in internet-related activities and the percentage of internet users in Vietnam using the internet daily is up to 94 percent.

Vu Hoang Lien, Chairman of Vietnam Internet Association, speaks at the event (Photo: VNA)

Long said after 25 years of development, Vietnam’s internet had transformed from the communication infrastructure into the infrastructure of the digital economy, and the infrastructure of all industries and businesses.

 Internet – key element in Vietnam’s digital transformation

Through 25 years of economic development, the internet is not only a way to connect people, but it has now become intelligent, a way to connect the world of things, so that people can understand the world of things, so that objects understand things better and on the digital environment, people and the world of objects will blend together.

From the role of the internet as a tool for socio-economic development, the internet will create a new way for socio-economic development.

"Now that our world has made the move from the real world to the digital world. The internet will be critical to make this great migration happen and a key element of digital transformation. If in the past social administrators sought to manage the internet, today social administrators use the internet to manage society," Long said.

Leaders of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Internet Association and telecommunications businesses committed to developing internet in Vietnam. (Photo: Minh Son/Vietnam+)

Regarding the development of the internet sector, the deputy minister said that telecommunications businesses together with digital technology enterprises would have to transform resources and explore new markets to develop telecommunications infrastructure and information technology infrastructure, especially cloud computing and data centres.

Statistics from the Ministry of Information and Communications show that there are currently 72.1 million Vietnamese people, accounting for 73.2 percent of the population, using the internet in daily life, ranking 13th in the world.

Mobile broadband infrastructure covers 99.73 percent of villages nationwide; 19.79 million households have fiber optic cable, reaching 72.4 percent.

Fiber optic cable systems have been deployed to 100 percent of communes, wards and townships, 91 percent of villages, 100 percent of schools.

The number of mobile phone subscribers using smartphones is 94.2 million; the number of mobile broadband subscribers is 82.2 million, accounting for 74.3 percent of the population.

There are more than 564,000 domain names ".vn", ranking second in ASEAN, and top 10 in the Asia - Pacific region.

The level of IP usage (IPv4, IPv6) is in the top 20-30 countries and territories globally. IPv6 application rate in Vietnam reached 53 percent with more than 50 million users.

Vietnam also reached the top 10 leading countries and territories in the world in IPv6 transition./.