VietNamNet Bridge – Digital content service providers now gear up to implement a lot of investment projects to grab the golden opportunities to come in the “second Internet wave” in Vietnam.

Phan Sao Nam, President of VTC Online, in an interview given to Buu dien newspaper, mentioned the notion “second Internet wave,” saying that digital content firms need to prepare well for the wave which would last 3-5 years only.

Vietnam witnessed the first Internet wave in the 1997-2007, when the number of Internet users jumped from zero to 10 million. At that time, dotcoms developed very strongly by launching a lot of applications that can change the lives of people.

Nowadays, the appearance of 3G and smart mobile devices which can satisfy the digital convergence trend has led to the sharp increase of mobile Internet users. In the last three years, the number of people accessing Internet from their mobile phones has increased from zero to 13 million.

If the rapid growth rate continues, the number of Internet users would climb to 50 million in the next three or five years. By that time, the market would reach its peak of development, which would later go horizontally, thus making this a new habit for consumers.

According to Kinh te Vietnam newspaper, the government of Vietnam strives to have 60 percent of the population to use Internet services by 2020.

Technologically, a senior executive of VinaPhone, one of the three biggest mobile network operators, affirmed at a recent workshop on digital content services in HCM City that in the near future, 3G would be the main wireless network connection tool which would be by far superior to wifi technology.

“It is now the transitional period between the first and the second Internet waves, with the second wave nearly coming,” Nam said.

However, Nam said Vietnamese IT firms should hurry to prepare for the second Internet wave, or they would lose the opportunity, because the wave would not last for a long time.

There is not much more time to hesitate, because the golden opportunity would not come back again. When the Internet market breaks even, the positions of the service providers on the market would be disposed.

Meanwhile, according to Nam, only the enterprises in the top 3 in the Internet market would be able to survive and develop.

Nam compares Vietnamese digital content firms with “the excellent, but poor students.” Though the firms have a lot of good ideas, they cannot grow up because they lack capital. Therefore, they need the investors who can help them make the ideas realistic.

VTC Online has found an investor suitable for it. DWS, an investment fund from the global finance group Deutsche Bank has agreed to invest 10 million dollars in VTC Online, while the cash was remitted to VTC Online’s account in July 2012.

Analysts believe that in Vietnam, the Internet-service relating firms are now the top choice for foreign investment funds, which have realized that Vietnam is the country with the highest growth rate of Internet users, and that the digital content industry still has been developing well despite the big economic difficulties.

While the businesses in many business fields are facing big difficulties, going to bankrupted or undergoing restructure process, the enterprises in the digital content industry still have been developing strongly.

Le Hong Minh, General Director of VNG, said on Zing.news the corporation hopes to obtain the turnover of 4600 billion dong from games in 2012, adding that 15 million people play games every day.

Compiled by C. V