Vietnam’s telecom sector generated revenue of VND93.5 trillion (US$4.2 billion) in the first six months of the year, excluding military group Viettel’s earnings from foreign markets.

The revenue number was announced at a review conference held recently by the Ministry of Information and Communications in Hanoi.

According to the ministry, the number of 2G subscribers dropped while 3G service continued to expand in the period. By the end of June, the country had had around 84 million 2G subscribers and 38 million 3G users.

The number of landline subscribers fell to 7.3 million while the market for broadband Internet kept growing, to more than 8.5 million users. 

Regarding Internet domains, the ministry’s report showed that the total number of dot-vn domains stayed at 366,000. There were 40,000 new domains in Vietnamese registered during the period, bringing the total number of domains in Vietnamese to more than 900,000.

Hoang Son, deputy general director of Viettel, said at the conference that the company’s 4G service pilot plan has been completed with good results and high service quality. Viettel has asked for permission to launch its 4G service in early September.

Earlier, the ministry had licensed VNPT, Viettel, MobiFone, and FPT Telecom to provide 4G service on a trial basis.

Nguyen Duc Trung, head of the Department of Telecommunications, said the department will finish the 4G pilot scheme on October 23. The department plans to officially license the high-speed service at the end of the third quarter or in the fourth quarter.

Le Nam Tra, chairman of MobiFone, said MobiTV service, which earlier belonged to AVG Group, earned profit of VND6.4 billion (US$286,976) in the six months after MobiFone acquired the group. The company, now with more than 168,000 MobiTV subscribers, will focus on this new business.

In the first five months, exports of phones and phone parts reached US$14.25 billion, up 19.1% year-on-year. Meanwhile, the export turnover of computers and computer components surged 6% to US$6.38 billion over the same period last year.

As for the postal sector, a representative of Vietnam Post Corporation said total revenue in the first six months met 50% of this year’s target, growing 41% year-on-year.  Its profit was equal to 52% of the target, up 45% over the same period last year.