Telecommunications revenue in the first half of the year stood at some $8.16 billion, an increase of 8.4 per cent year-on-year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

Internet revenue was the largest in the first half, of $481.5 million, for an increase of 12.2 per cent year-on-year.

Computer internet saw slow growth, while mobile internet (3G) saw sharp growth of almost 30 per cent year-on-year. As at the end of June there were 29.1 million 3G subscribers in Vietnam among a total of 137 million subscribers. At just 20 per cent of subscribers, 3G is expected to develop more dramatically in the future. In developing countries such as South Korea and Japan the proportion runs from 70 to 80 per cent.

The total of 137 million subscribers at the end of the first half was an increase of 14.3 per cent year-on-year. 2G had 107.8 million subscribers, an increase of 6 per cent compared to the first half of last year.

Last year’s figure of over $13.9 billion, for a 1.5-fold increase, was something of a surprise because there was a sharp decline in revenue during 2013 in the region of a billion dollars.