Tinh Van Group's Communications Director Assumes Role as Head of Inspection Board of Vietnam Internet Association (VIA)

2020-12-15 10:54:44

On December 15, 2020, at the Sheraton Hotel (Hanoi), the Third Congress of the Vietnam Internet Association (VIA) for the 2020-2025 term took place. The slogan for the new term is “Innovation, development of the Internet ecosystem, promoting National Digital Transformation.” This congress elected the Executive Committee for the third term, the President, Vice Presidents, and the Inspection Board. Mr. Phan Quang Minh – Communications Director of Tinhvan Group – was re-elected to the Executive Committee for the third term and concurrently serves as Head of the Inspection Board of the Vietnam Internet Association.

Vietnam Internet has made remarkable progress

Speaking at the congress, Mr. Hoang Minh Cuong, Director of the Telecommunications Department – Ministry of Information and Communications, emphasized that since the Internet arrived in Vietnam in 1997, Vietnam's Internet has developed remarkably. To illustrate this, Director Hoang Minh Cuong informed that Vietnam is among the top 20 countries with the highest number of Internet users (IU) in the world. According to the General Statistics Office in 2019, the Internet user rate reached 68.7%, while the global average was 51.4%. Currently, this rate is only lower than developed countries (86.7%), developing countries (44.4%), and Asia-Pacific countries (44.5%). “It can be said that Vietnam's Internet user rate is significantly higher than the regional average and we have reached 80% of that of developed countries.”

Meanwhile, data on the percentage of households with Internet access in Vietnam currently stands at 71.3%, while the global average is only 57.4%. This figure is 85% in developed countries and 53% in Asia-Pacific. Thus, Vietnam's rate is higher than the regional average, reaching 83.7% of that of developed countries, nearly on par with developed nations. According to data from We Are Social, the average Vietnamese person spends about 6 hours and 42 minutes per day on the Internet, of which 2 hours and 33 minutes are on social media. 94% of Vietnamese Internet users go online daily. According to Mr. Cuong, this index is significantly higher than the global average, showing that Vietnamese people are highly interested in information and the Internet.

Also according to data from the Telecommunications Department, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Vietnam's mobile broadband growth rate in 2020 increased by 22.45%, and fixed broadband increased by 13.33% compared to the same period. Currently, fixed broadband in households reaches 15.68 million, accounting for 58.34% of households, representing very strong growth in 2020 during the period of social distancing and remote work.

“These are positive figures, especially when in 2020 the whole world was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and had to undergo social distancing. Accordingly, the whole world shifted to a new normal state, with remote work, remote education, remote healthcare, and e-commerce becoming the main methods of maintaining social life. The role of telecommunications and the Internet has become even more evident,” affirmed Director Hoang Minh Cuong.

Launch of the VIA Executive Committee for the third term

Opportunities for Vietnamese Internet enterprises to actively participate in national development

The Prime Minister has approved the National Digital Transformation Program with a vision to 2025 and orientation to 2030, which aims to promote digital infrastructure and digital services to serve the country's digital transformation. Accordingly, Director Hoang Minh Cuong stated: “This is also an opportunity for the Internet, VIA, and Internet enterprises to leverage for breakthroughs and stronger participation in the country's development. The role of VIA and its members needs to be more clearly demonstrated than ever in this period as well as in the coming time when Vietnam implements national digital transformation.” Former Deputy Minister Mai Liem Truc also expects VIA to become stronger and more dynamic because the Internet brings a new living environment and space – online – the greatest human achievement, connecting 7 billion people 24/7 anywhere. Moreover, in the era of the Internet of Things (IoT), not only 7 billion people are connected, but the world has hundreds of billions of connections. The Association's mission is to contribute to the development of the country's Internet.

According to VIA, during the five years of the second term, VIA's activities were organized more systematically, with greater participation from domestic and international enterprises and communities. Members actively participated in the Association's regular activities, which were effective and practical. Leveraging the advantage that member enterprises come from various business sectors and the low rate of direct competition among members, the Association developed specific action programs for each period. At the same time, the Association focused on developing member exchange activities, combining meetings with opportunities to discuss specific topics, thereby opening up many business opportunities among members and participating enterprises. VIA has achieved remarkable activities, making positive and clear contributions to the development and cohesion of the community of telecommunications, Internet, digital content enterprises, and units and individuals operating in the field.

Fulfilling its role of policy consulting and criticism through activities of connecting, collecting, synthesizing, and forwarding comments, requests, and proposals from members and affiliated units to relevant state management agencies, VIA has made efforts to positively impact the policy environment for Internet and telecommunications in Vietnam in recent years. VIA has organized many working sessions among members in the same business sectors; participated in many discussions on the policy environment; and sent many documents providing comments on draft legal documents.

During the second term, VIA focused on promoting cooperative relationships with international units and organizations, thereby bringing opportunities, benefits, and updated useful information to its members and the Vietnamese Internet community.

VIA initiated and maintained relationships with organizations promoting Internet development in the region and internationally, such as ISOC (Internet Society), ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), APNIC, APIA (Asia-Pacific Internet Association), ACCA (Asia Cloud Computing Association), etc., to co-organize international events in Vietnam and bring international expansion opportunities to VIA members.

VIA also proactively approached and sought incentives and benefits for members from trade promotion and networking events in the region, such as FTTH Council, Capacity Asia, Telecoms World, CommunicAsia, etc.

Regarding bilateral business connection promotion, besides the traditional Korean partner, VIA also made efforts to expand support channels for trade promotion with other countries such as Australia, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Singapore, India, etc.

Regarding cooperation with domestic associations, VIA has always been aware of and made efforts to contribute to common activities. Some coordinated activities and events were organized by VIA in collaboration with partner associations such as the Vietnam Informatics Association, the Digital Communication Association, the Information Security Association, the E-commerce Association, the Radio-Electronics Association, and the CIO-CEO Club.

During the second term, several events were maintained and improved in quality, becoming VIA's “brands,” such as Internet Day, OpenInfra Days, and Security BootCamp. VIA also organized the training course “Information Management on the Internet,” a training project of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, etc.

Evaluating the activities of the five-year second term, Director of the Telecommunications Department Hoang Minh Cuong stated: VIA has strived to rise, perfect its apparatus, and create prosperity for Vietnam's Internet community. VIA has carried out many meaningful activities such as organizing training, orientation, protecting consumer and enterprise rights, trade promotion activities, and strategies for socializing Vietnam's Internet, helping members improve their professional skills by opening training classes, fostering technology and service expertise on Internet topics, and creating conditions for learning, research, and application of Internet development.

The Association has also contributed to the country's international economic integration through activities promoting and attracting investment and technology, promoting Vietnam's Internet potential, and supporting and recommending to authorities to build and complete legal frameworks to regulate Internet activities in Vietnam specifically, and telecommunications and IT in general. The Association's events, seminars, and promotional activities generally have strong appeal, create a buzz, and receive attention and high praise from enterprises, people, and society.

(Source: ICT Vietnam)