Despite ongoing challenges, new development opportunities are emerging for Vietnam’s ICT industry, driven by 4G and 5G networks.

The sector’s total revenue was estimated at $11.8 billion in July, down 8 per cent compared to June, but up 2 per cent on-year, released at the Ministry of Information and Communications’ (MIC) press conference on August 8 to review the performance over the first seven months of 2023 and set objectives for the coming months.

Its state budget contribution was estimated at $362.2 million, falling by 3 per cent on-month and 16 per cent over the same period last year. The accumulated state investment for the first seven months stood at $2.4 billion.

Postal service revenue was approximately $213 million, up by 2 per cent compared to June 2023 and more than 10 per cent over July 2022.

In terms of the digital economy, its ratio to GDP in the second quarter of 2023 was estimated at 15.26 per cent.

Remarkably, Vietnam rose to eighth in the rankings of countries with the highest number of mobile app downloads in the world.

Seven applications that maintain over 10 million active accounts include Zalo, Zing MP3, VNEID, Momo Wallet, MB Bank, and My Viettel.

Meanwhile, the total revenue of the IT industry in the first seven months was estimated at $72.9 billion, down 7.1 per cent on-year. The fall was blamed on a sharp decline in hardware and electronics export revenue, which often accounts for a large proportion of the revenue structure of the IT industry.

The sharpest declines were reported in March, April, and May, with figures of 22.8 per cent, 22.4 per cent, and 16.3 per cent respectively.

Addressing the event, Nguyen Phong Nha, deputy general director of the MIC’s Authority of Telecommunications admitted that the revenue from mobile network operators’ traditional services has seen a fall, but there are new driving forces for the growth of the industry.

“We now have high-speed 4G networks, which create opportunities for businesses and mobile network operators to develop new services. There is also a more favourable legal framework, and in the future, 5G will offer huge potential,” he said.

The MIC has submitted a decree to the government on national databases, covering their construction, update, maintenance, and exploitation – Report No.50/TTr-BTTTT dated July 31.

It also submitted a decree guiding some regulations in the Law on Radio Frequencies and amendments to a number of its articles.

Also in July, the Law on Electronic Transactions – No.20/2023/QH15 – was announced.

On July 12, at the preliminary meeting of the National Committee on Digital Transformation, the MIC – the standing body of the committee – announced the results of an assessment of the rate of digital transformation at ministerial, provincial, and national levels in 2022.

Compared to 2021, the growth of the national digital transformation index did slow down, but the component indices of digital government, digital economy, and digital society still maintained a high growth rate of 45-55 per cent.

According to the MIC, in August, the ministry is setting up some key tasks. It plans to propose a law amending and supplementing the Law on the Press.

It will also complete a dossier on a proposal to develop a Law on the Digital Technology Industry to submit to the government for consideration and approval.

Furthermore, it aims to finalise plans and draft amendments to Decree No.130/2018/ND-CP, detailing the implementation of the Law on Electronic Transactions governing digital signatures and related authentication services.

Finally, it will complete the digital investigation support platform, step up activities to review and detect fraudulent acts in cyberspace, and organise the first National Forum for Digital Economy and Digital Society Development.

Vietnam Investment Review