The Minister said: “In Vietnam today, it is easy to see internet is now part of our lives. From a farmer, a worker, student, engineer, doctor, everyone can find useful information in internet. Internet has transformed our way of living and habits”. According to the Minister, in order for Internet to grow rapidly in Vietnam as nowadays, the technological and telecommunication infrastructure has played a vital role. From zero in 90s, Vietnam had been one of the very first countries implementing the 2G network and then upgrading to 3G and 4G with modern infrastructure. As of present, internet has covered every part of Vietnam from rural area to highland and remote island. 

According to statistics, since the beginning of 2017, Vietnam has around 50 millions of internet users, contributing to 54% of population, and higher than the world’s average number of 46.64%. With this being said, Vietnam is one of the top countries in Asia with the highest number of internet users. “Comparing to more than 31 millions of internet users in 2011; 17 millions of 10 years ago or 205,000 in the first period of internet in Vietnam, the country has impressive improvements” – the Minister stressed. 

In a speech at the APEC CEO Summit 2017 under the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week, the Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc forecasted Vietnam will be one of the top countries in region with regard to the number of smartphones users. This is the foundation for Vietnam to facilitate and improve the internet ecosystem in Vietnam. At present, the government is putting up effort to develop the Information & Technology, digital content and added value applications in internet, in parallel with the development of other fields such as advertisement, media, games, e-commerce and e-payment. As such, along with internet services providers such as Viettel, VNPT, FPT, CMC, Netnam, Vietnam now has leading enterprises in digital contents such as VTC, VNG, and VC Corp. 

The Minister evaluated, that many enterprises in Vietnam has not only dominated in the domestic market, but also taking steps to join the regional and world market. Many applications in internet developed by domestic enterprises have been well known in the world such as Flappy Bird of Nguyen Ha Dong, or Monkey Junior, winner of GIST Tech I 2016. There is a growing trend of start-ups in fields of digital contents and high added value applications in internet, with new technologies such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence.