The Government wants Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) to become a hi-tech manufacturing corporation, said Minister and Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung.

The display area of VNPT solutions at an exhibition

He was conveying opinions of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc when leading a working group to examine the implementation of the tasks assigned by the Government and the Prime Minister at VNPT on March 15.

Dung said Prime Minister Phuc had recently visited Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park and found VNPT already making high-tech products. 

The Prime Minister wants VNPT to make more efforts to become a hi-tech manufacturing corporation in the shortest time possible, turning out products such as phones and computers of high quality.

VNPT general director Pham Duc Long said small-scale industrial production made it difficult to compete with big producers in the marketplace. 

VNPT’s industrial products are now also available in some foreign markets.

VNPT is setting up a factory in Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park and building a center for research and development, a crucial stage in the process of making high-tech products. 

The group is also developing the first optical fiber plant to serve the domestic market and export.

Minister Dung requested VNPT to have a roadmap for the tasks allocated by the Prime Minister and to soon report on the performance of these tasks.

On information technology development and the formation of an industrial manufacturing corporation, Phan Tam, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications, said VNPT should make specific proposals.

Apart from the above contents, the Prime Minister asks VNPT to actively carry out restructuring, pulling out of non-core operations to boost its efficiency.

Pham Duc Long said VNPT and its affiliates had managed to perform all tasks assigned by the Government, except for six unaccomplished tasks, including divestment from non-core operations, restructuring of Post and Telecommunication Finance Company, and rearrangement of Hospital of Posts and Telecoms.

He said there were many reasons for the failure to complete such tasks.

VNPT must withdraw from 63 units according to Decision 888 of the Government, but the group has just done so with 18 units due to difficulties such as the failed auctions of some business.

Long stated the plan for VNPT restructuring and equitization in 2016-2020 would continue to be implemented under the decision of the Prime Minister.

To facilitate the divestment from a number of small businesses, the group should create favorable conditions for these units to grow well first, and it is expected that divestment and equitization will take place at these companies in 2017-2018.

SGT