Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Le Nam Thang has pledged a number of policies to encourage investors in the telecommunications sector, both domestic and international.

Thang told a forum on telecoms in Hanoi on September 14 that the Government would continue with policies to open up the domestic market and speed up global integration, including in the telecoms industry.

“The telecom sector has managed to record impressive growth in recent years and narrow the gap with developed countries, which has benefited economic growth and improved the people’s standard of living,” said the official.

The forum drew over 150 participants from domestic and international telecoms businesses, research institutions and consultancy companies.

Nitin Bhat from the company Frost & Sullivan, a global leading consultant in IT and communications, has evaluated Vietnam as a major market, with a constantly high growth rate.

He also forecast a slow-down in growth in the immediate future and urged more investment in the country’s infrastructure as well as market surveys to meet market demands, citing it as a guarantee for business success.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) also sees Vietnam as a rapidly growing market.

By the end of August this year, the nation has had over 156 million telephone users, over 90 percent of whom are mobile phone subscribers.

Compared with 2005, the density of telephones has increased 2.2 times, Internet subscriptions by 16 times and international connections by 28.2 times.

The telecoms industry’s revenue in 2009 reached 6.8 billion USD, a growth of 2.5 times that of 2006./.