Vietnam has about 45,500 enterprises in the ICT industry including foreign-invested ones grossing a total estimated revenue of US$126 billion, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC).

Vietnam's digital economy - core ICT 2020. Photo: Nhat Minh

Vietnam is considered one of the 20 countries with the highest internet penetration in the world with 68.17 million users (accounting for 70% of the population). About 94% of Vietnamese people use internet regularly with an average usage time of up to 6 hours per day.

Besides, ICT exports account for about 30% of the total national export value and 3% of global ICT exports. Notably, Vietnam's internet economy growth rate in 2020 continues to reach nearly 17%, the highest in Southeast Asia. These are the bright spots in the sector, according to the MIC.

Internet has become an essential service for everyone and Vietnamese people see good prospects for the internet. As internet has become an ecosystem for digital transformation, the organizing board of the annual Internet Day chose the theme “Digital Transformation in Vietnam: from Aspiration to Reality” for the annual Internet Day this year.

Speaking at the conference on December 16, Mr. Nguyen Trong Duong, Deputy Director of the Computerization Agency (under the MIC) said that in the second half of 2020, international organizations have been releasing reports on digital society, digital government, digital economics relating to Vietnam.

The United Nations (UN) EGDI report showed that, in terms of the e-government development index (EGDI), Vietnam ranked 86th, climbing two spots and scoring higher than the average of Asia and the world. In Southeast Asia, Vietnam currently ranked 6th in the e-government development index, behind the Philippines, Brunei, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.

Regarding the telecommunications infrastructure index, in the past year, Vietnam jumped 31 places, ranking 69 in the world. In the human resource ranking index, Vietnam increased three places to rank 117.

However, the UN's report was only updated until September 2019. Therefore, Vietnam's digital transformation efforts from the end of 2019 until now have not been recorded and the next evaluation results will be made public soon, Mr. Duong said.