Vietnam’s total telephone penetration rate soars to 192.7%
Isabelle Paradis
June 2011
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According to the information released by HOT TELECOM (www.hottelecom.com) in its latest report “Vietnam Telecom country profile”, Vietnam’s total number of fixed and mobile subscribers increased by 3.2 million in the first four months of 2011, including 26,800 fixed subscribers and 3.1 million mobile subscribers.

The country has been experiencing considerable growth in all telecom areas over the last 5 years, as the government has made a concerted effort to increase the amount of telecom services available. In early 2011, the government approved a Master Plan on information technology aiming to turn Vietnam into a developed country in ICT by 2020. According to the plan, the ICT industry is expected to contribute around 8-10% of the country’s GDP and its revenue growth to double or triple the GDP growth by 2020.

At the end of 2010, the country’s total telephone penetration rate had soared to 192.7% from 32.6% in 2006. Nevertheless, the telecom market is unlikely to sustain its scorching pace of development since it is nearing saturation in the fixed and mobile markets and tariffs have fallen significantly.

Vietnam’s fixed market has undergone a steady growth of 22.5% in the last 5 years. Nevertheless, this trend started to decrease in 2009 and should continue to do so as fixed/mobile substitution accelerates. The number of fixed customers increased by 4.5% in 2010, to reach 18.2 million. The number of fixed lines is expected to stagnate with an average growth rate of 4.3% over the next 5 years to reach 19.0 million and a penetration of 20.0% at the end of 2015.

The mobile market is the country’s most dynamic telecom sector and one of the world’s fastest growing, with an average growth of 80.6% in the last 5 years, to reach 153.7 million subscribers and a penetration of 172.3% at the end of 2010. The number of mobile customers surpassed the number of fixed lines in 2005 and now accounts for 89.4% of all telephone connections in Vietnam. There are 5 mobile 3G providers in Vietnam and an estimated 7.0 million 3G mobile phone subscribers in June 2010.

The growth rate of the last 5 years should start decreasing significantly as of 2011 however with the number of mobile subscribers representing almost 200% of the population. ‘We therefore expect the number of mobile subscribers to grow by an average of 7.7% over the next 5 years, bringing the number of mobile connections to 222.8 million at the end of 2015’ said HOT TELECOM President, Isabelle Paradis. At that time mobile penetration should have reached 233.6%.

Find out more about the Vietnam’s fixed, mobile and Internet markets in HOT TELECOM’s new 30-page Vietnam country profile: http://www.hottelecom.com/vietnam-copr.html

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