The emerging of a third platform (Cloud, Big Data, Mobility and Social)will change the main themes of the IT and telecoms market in Vietnam in2014, according to a report listing the top 10 predictions for nextyear's ICT.
The report from the International DataCorporation (IDC) Vietnam ICT 2014 said that information andcommunication technologies (ICT) spending would grow strongly.
"This study discusses the factors that will have biggest impact on theICT market across the country in 2014. The market has been morechallenging than before due to unfavourable economic times in Vietnam,coupled with the changing appetite of consumers and businesses," said HaNgoc Khuong, market analyst for IDC Vietnam.
"Thetraditional economy is moving towards one that is technology-laden,where organisations scale up technology's contributions into the bottomline."
The top 10 ICT predictions that reflect a significant movement of the Vietnam ICT market in 2014 include:
* ICT spending in Vietnam will have a growth rate of 15.5 percent in2014, following a modest growth of 8.4 percent this year. The total ICTmarket is expected to reach 13 billion USD in 2014 and if it happens,Vietnam will be among the top ICT spenders in Asia/Pacific.
* Homegrown smartphone brands will be more competitive. There isincreasing competition in the budget smartphone segment from localplayers like Viettel, Q-Smart and MobiiStar. Homegrown brands arepredicted to be even more competitive in 2014 as they challenge thestatus quo in market share between foreign brands versus homegrown ones.
* Mobile gaming will explode, but not withoutchallenges. The proliferation of smart-connected devices extends newopportunities for gaming in Vietnam. It estimates that unique mobileonline game users in 2013 will reach 2.68 million.
This is expected to be more than 39 percent growth in 2014. However, thelimits of technology and recently increased prices of 3G may hamper thestrong growth of the gaming mobile online market.
*Vietnam's desktop/PC market continues growth. The need for desktop/PCconsumption in 2013, particularly in the consumer segment that gainedover one fifth from a year ago. Continued demand for desktop/PCs isexpected in 2014, notably from second-tier cities and new establishedbusinesses.
* Taking advantage of 2G frequency for3G networks. The ever-increasing consumer communication traffic demandcontinues to outstrip the network capacity, putting pressure on theoperator's network.
As the ROI (rate of investment)for investment in 3G, estimated over 2 billion USD, has not beenachieved yet, Vietnam operators like VNPT and Viettel have proposed thatthe Ministry of Information and Communications take advantage of 2Gfrequency for 3G networks.
* Telecommunication companies will seek mutual partnership with OTTPs.
Telecommunication companies are facing a new challenge to theirbusiness model as Vietnam subscribers are now giving up traditional dataservices like short message service (SMS) or multimedia messagingservice (MMS) in favour of making calls and sending messages throughover-the-top (OTT) applications.
There will beincreasing partnership structure between OTTPs and local telcos in 2014,which will bring a win-win solution for both players.
* Local enterpise mobility partner ecosystem starting to form. Theenterprise mobility partner ecosystem in Vietnam is starting to form,with the recent partnership deal between Mobifone - Samsung - FPTSoftware. This trend will shape up more clearly in 2014 as more serviceofferings will be introduced to the market and define the partnershipstructure that help vendors, service providers and independent softwarevendors to position themselves in the third platform era.
* Local IT Service Providers redefine services portfolio. As themarket heads towards the third platform, local IT players are somewhatdisengaged from the new landscape as their business volumes are stillheavily based on the second platform.
Away from thetraditional IT services business, key local IT services players willaggressively seek growth and business sustainability to redefine theirengagement.
* Stronger IT adoption push from lowertier cities and provinces. The phenomenon of Da Nang Smart City mayencourage IT adoption in lower-tier cities and provinces which isseeking more ICT transformation to improve their public services. Unlikethe past, where lower tier cities and provinces rely heavily onministerial and central authorities for investment approval and adoptionguidance, they will independently seek their own funding to push outICT initiatives like metronet, data centres and free wifi offerings orpublic utilities monitoring system.
* Windows XP: Tokeep or not to keep. According to Microsoft, as of March 2013, thepenetration of Windows XP in Vietnam is nearly 46 percent withapproximately 5.5 million PCs installed. Recently, Microsoft announcedthat it will end support for Windows XP by April 8. Companies in Vietnamwill have to decide if they want to invest in the new OS, choose newoptions like Virtual Desktop Infrastructure or stick with their XP.-VNA
The report from the International DataCorporation (IDC) Vietnam ICT 2014 said that information andcommunication technologies (ICT) spending would grow strongly.
"This study discusses the factors that will have biggest impact on theICT market across the country in 2014. The market has been morechallenging than before due to unfavourable economic times in Vietnam,coupled with the changing appetite of consumers and businesses," said HaNgoc Khuong, market analyst for IDC Vietnam.
"Thetraditional economy is moving towards one that is technology-laden,where organisations scale up technology's contributions into the bottomline."
The top 10 ICT predictions that reflect a significant movement of the Vietnam ICT market in 2014 include:
* ICT spending in Vietnam will have a growth rate of 15.5 percent in2014, following a modest growth of 8.4 percent this year. The total ICTmarket is expected to reach 13 billion USD in 2014 and if it happens,Vietnam will be among the top ICT spenders in Asia/Pacific.
* Homegrown smartphone brands will be more competitive. There isincreasing competition in the budget smartphone segment from localplayers like Viettel, Q-Smart and MobiiStar. Homegrown brands arepredicted to be even more competitive in 2014 as they challenge thestatus quo in market share between foreign brands versus homegrown ones.
* Mobile gaming will explode, but not withoutchallenges. The proliferation of smart-connected devices extends newopportunities for gaming in Vietnam. It estimates that unique mobileonline game users in 2013 will reach 2.68 million.
This is expected to be more than 39 percent growth in 2014. However, thelimits of technology and recently increased prices of 3G may hamper thestrong growth of the gaming mobile online market.
*Vietnam's desktop/PC market continues growth. The need for desktop/PCconsumption in 2013, particularly in the consumer segment that gainedover one fifth from a year ago. Continued demand for desktop/PCs isexpected in 2014, notably from second-tier cities and new establishedbusinesses.
* Taking advantage of 2G frequency for3G networks. The ever-increasing consumer communication traffic demandcontinues to outstrip the network capacity, putting pressure on theoperator's network.
As the ROI (rate of investment)for investment in 3G, estimated over 2 billion USD, has not beenachieved yet, Vietnam operators like VNPT and Viettel have proposed thatthe Ministry of Information and Communications take advantage of 2Gfrequency for 3G networks.
* Telecommunication companies will seek mutual partnership with OTTPs.
Telecommunication companies are facing a new challenge to theirbusiness model as Vietnam subscribers are now giving up traditional dataservices like short message service (SMS) or multimedia messagingservice (MMS) in favour of making calls and sending messages throughover-the-top (OTT) applications.
There will beincreasing partnership structure between OTTPs and local telcos in 2014,which will bring a win-win solution for both players.
* Local enterpise mobility partner ecosystem starting to form. Theenterprise mobility partner ecosystem in Vietnam is starting to form,with the recent partnership deal between Mobifone - Samsung - FPTSoftware. This trend will shape up more clearly in 2014 as more serviceofferings will be introduced to the market and define the partnershipstructure that help vendors, service providers and independent softwarevendors to position themselves in the third platform era.
* Local IT Service Providers redefine services portfolio. As themarket heads towards the third platform, local IT players are somewhatdisengaged from the new landscape as their business volumes are stillheavily based on the second platform.
Away from thetraditional IT services business, key local IT services players willaggressively seek growth and business sustainability to redefine theirengagement.
* Stronger IT adoption push from lowertier cities and provinces. The phenomenon of Da Nang Smart City mayencourage IT adoption in lower-tier cities and provinces which isseeking more ICT transformation to improve their public services. Unlikethe past, where lower tier cities and provinces rely heavily onministerial and central authorities for investment approval and adoptionguidance, they will independently seek their own funding to push outICT initiatives like metronet, data centres and free wifi offerings orpublic utilities monitoring system.
* Windows XP: Tokeep or not to keep. According to Microsoft, as of March 2013, thepenetration of Windows XP in Vietnam is nearly 46 percent withapproximately 5.5 million PCs installed. Recently, Microsoft announcedthat it will end support for Windows XP by April 8. Companies in Vietnamwill have to decide if they want to invest in the new OS, choose newoptions like Virtual Desktop Infrastructure or stick with their XP.-VNA
