Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Pham Duc Long highlighted the internet as a crucial part of infrastructure and the backbone of digital transformation. He said since the launch of the internet 25 years ago, Vietnam has become a telecom powerhouse, catching up with other countries in the region and the world.

By 2025, Vietnam targets building the most advanced digital infrastructure in ASEAN. By 2030, 5G mobile services will cover the whole country, enabling everyone to access broadband internet services at a low cost, he said.\

"Now that our world has made the move from the real world to the digital world. The internet will be critical to make this great migration happen and a key element of digital transformation. If in the past social administrators sought to manage the internet, today social administrators use the internet to manage society," said Deputy Minister Long.

Vu Hoang Lien - Chairman of Vietnam Internet Association – said that in 1997, the number of Internet users in Vietnam was just over 200,000. The number reached 3 million in 2002, and 20 million in 2007, accounting for 24% of the country's population and 72.1 million at present, ranking 13th in the world.

“The Internet has brought Vietnam opportunities and innovation. The most obvious is the transformation of society, service models and apps, bringing about rapid changes in economic, social and cultural development," Lien said.

“The Internet is one of the most important factors promoting the industrialization and modernization of the country. This has become one of the most important and essential infrastructures of mankind," Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung said.

Vietnam started slowly but after 25 years, it has risen to catch up with other countries in the region and the world. Vietnam has become a strong country in telecommunications and Internet, with modern technology and high level of Internet usage.

At present, mobile broadband infrastructure has covered 99.73% of villages nationwide; 19.79 million Vietnamese households have fiber optic cable, accounting for 72.4%.
 
The fiber optic system has reached 100% of communes, wards and townships, 91% of villages and 100% of schools. Vietnam currently has 94.2 million mobile smartphone subscribers. The number of mobile broadband subscribers is 82.2 million, accounting for 74.3% of the population.
 
Deputy Director of the Vietnam Internet Network Information Centre (VNNIC) Tran Thi Thu Hien said Vietnam currently has over 564,000 domain names ".vn", ranking second in ASEAN and among the top 10 in the Asia-Pacific region.

Vietnam is placed among the top 20-30 countries globally for the use of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. The IPv6 application rate in Vietnam has reached 53% with more than 50 million users. Vietnam is among the top 10 countries in the world for IPv6 transition.  

She added that in the next period, the internet will be used for management, hence, the sector needs to build modern and widespread infrastructure to protect data inflows and incorporate the internet into socio-economic development activities.

Vietnam's internet history started on November 19, 1997, when, at the headquarters of the General Department of the Post Office, on behalf of the National Co-ordinating Committee on Internet of Vietnam, the Director General of the General Department of the Post Office Mai Liem Truc held an international press conference to officially announce Vietnam's connection to the global internet.

Trong Dat