Ha Noi (VNA) - Viet Nam's information communication and technology (ICT) sector is predicted to "take off" in 2007, the first year of the country's WTO membership, according to experts.
Year 2007 will witness a strong growth of post and telecoms services, together with a high development rate in information technology (IT) sector, said Bui Thien Minh, Deputy General Director of the Viet Nam Post and Telecommunication Group (VNPT).
Total broad-band Internet subscribers this year are likely to reach 1 million compared to 300,000 in 2006. Mobile phone service is expected to see a boom of 6 million new users, he added.
IT hardware production will have positive changes as the area is becoming more attractive to foreign investors, Director of Post and Telematics Ministry's IT Industry Department Nguyen Anh Tuan forecasts.
The target of 6-7 billion USD for 2010 is not too high since the Intel Viet Nam chip assembly and testing plant, which will be operational in 2009, will be able to contribute 5 billion USD to the IT sector, he confirmed.
Year 2007 also sees the development of the software market as well as software processing for export, which begins with contracts from American and Japanese companies, according to General Director of Microsoft Viet Nam Christophe Desriac.
David Knapp, General Director of Motorola Viet Nam meanwhile said the impacts brought by the country's accession to the WTO will help increase the market's demand and make the whole economy continue developing, thus creating opportunities for ICT development.
However, there are more to do to attract more foreign investment in the post-WTO period and to maintain a stable development in the next phase.
Domestic firms should become more familiar with international regulations and business pratices concerning the export of post and telecoms services, Minister of Post and Telematics Do Trung Ta said.
They should also improve their services' quality and human resource's management, the Minister added.
In 2006, the country posted a record 10 million new telephone subscribers, marking a year-on-year increase of 188 percent, which brought the total number of telephones in Viet Nam to 25.8 million.
The software industry, which includes 720 developers with 25,000 employees, generated 350 million USD in revenue last year, up 30 percent year-on-year, in which exports accounted for 70 million USD.
The ICT sector lured 2 billion USD of foreign direct investment and about 500 million USD of Official Development Assistance (ODA) in 2006.-Enditem
|
|