Singapore daily: Vietnam leads Asia-Pacific in pace of digital progress
Singapore (VNA) – Singapore’s daily Business Times said on November 2 that Vietnam’s digital transformation efforts have yielded the biggest improvement among regional economies.
According to an industry study of 11 Asia-Pacific markets
carried out by the GSMA Intelligence, Vietnam saw the highest increase in
scores between 2016 and 2019.
Its
latest rating stood at 49 points for 2019, up by 12 points from three years
before, which GSMA Intelligence attributed to notable improvements in the
connectivity component of the index, following the launch and rapid expansion
of 4G networks.
It was also driven by improvements to the digital identity, digital citizenship and digital lifestyle components, added the report.
GSMA Intelligence noted that Vietnam is pursuing a national Industry 4.0 strategy that includes infrastructure and human resources, as well as e-government and innovation.
However, there are still challenges that need to be addressed
to make further progress, particularly in the digital commerce component and
with regard to policies to support innovative startups, the report
added. The 5G mobile technology is expected to make up 5 percent of wireless
connections in Vietnam by 2025, well below the Asia-Pacific average of 23
percent.
Indeed, Vietnam ranked just eighth overall, among of the 11
markets surveyed. The rankings were topped by four “advanced” economies,
with the Republic of Korea (RoK) in pole position at 78 points. Next up were Singapore,
Australia and Japan.
The report classed Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Thailand and
Malaysia as “transition” countries, while Pakistan and Bangladesh are
“emerging”.
It said the gap remains significant. This underscores the
need for countries in the emerging category to do more to accelerate
progress.
The study was based on input from government and
industry organisations in the markets of Australia, Bangladesh, India,
Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, the RoK, Thailand and
Vietnam./.