Vietnam’s total information and communications technology (ICT) revenues in the year to date have exceeded VND2,136 trillion (US$94 billion), up 9.34% compared to the same period last year, heard a conference held by the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) on Friday.

A customer is seen at the customer service desk of MobiFone

ICT total revenues include VND13.9 trillion from the media, VND18.9 trillion from publications, VND7.5 trillion from television services and VND20.14 trillion from postal services. The communications sector makes up about 15%, or VND352.2 trillion, but the information technology sector accounts for nearly 85%, or VND1,723 trillion, of the total.

ICT contribution to the State budget is estimated at nearly VND95 trillion, meeting 104.3% of the annual plan.

The country has 116 mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 people, 12 internet subscriptions, 52.8 mobile broadband subscriptions and 5 fixed telephone subscriptions.

Some 9.3% of Vietnamese households use fixed telephone service and 28.35% have access to the internet. Mobile network and television service has covered 95% and 90% of the country respectively.

According to MIC, major ICT firms have met their full-year plans and achieved encouraging growth despite a tough ICT market. Revenues of Viettel, VNPost, VNPT and MobiFone have exceeded the full-year plans by 3%, 6%, 6.5% and 0.1% respectively.

Deputy general director of Viettel Group said at the conference that revenues from basic telecommunication services like phone calls and SMS have declined. With more than 98 million subscriptions, including 32 million overseas subscriptions, Viettel’s revenues have totaled VND249.3 trillion, bringing in a total pre-tax profit of nearly VND44 trillion. The military-run telecom giant has invested in 10 foreign countries.

According to VNPT Chairman Tran Manh Hung, the group’s total revenues have reached nearly VND144.8 trillion this year, up 7% year-on-year, with total profits estimated at more than VND5 trillion, up 20%. VNPT now has more than 34 million phone and 4.6 million internet subscribers.

Data of MIC shows MobiFone’s total revenues and pre-tax profits this year would hit more than VND44 trillion and VND5.6 trillion respectively.

SGT