The
telecom sector is expected to earn revenue of VND200 trillion (US$10 billion)
in 2010.

The
figure was released at a conference to review the implementation of the telecom
and Internet development plan to 2010, in Hanoi on Thursday.

Addressing
the conference, Permanent Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Le
Nam Thang affirmed that in the reviewed period, the telecom sector had a rapid
development step, becoming a spearhead economic sector of the country with an
average annual growth rate of 30-40 percent.

The
country has 162 million telephone subscribers or 189 telephones per 100 people,
including 91 percent mobile phone users. The number of people using the
Internet has hit 26 million or 31 percent of the country’s population.

At
present, Vietnam has 11 network infrastructure enterprises and 81 Internet
service providers. They are operating well in the domestic market and have
begun to invest abroad. The military firm, Viettel, has invested in Cambodia,
Laos, Myanmar, Haiti and Mozambique, while the National Post and Telecom Group
has opened a representative office in the US.

Source:
VNA