2023 will be the year the Vietnamese IT industry will focus on building a digital database for the country.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the conference. Photos: kinhtedothi.vn

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh made this request at a conference to take stock of activities in 2022 and deploy tasks in 2023, held by the Ministry of Information and Communications on December 18 in Hanoi.

At the conference, the Prime Minister stressed the need for the industry to ensure that information is stored and exploited securely and effectively to create added value, thus supporting the transformation of national digital governance.

Phuc called on industry leaders to focus on regularly and continuously updating and processing data, especially those related to land and housing.

The Prime Minister also set out some requirements for the industry in 2023, including accelerating the construction and development of modern and comprehensive digital infrastructures and encouraging the public and private sectors to join hands in investment.

The industry should also focus on promoting the digital economy and developing platforms to meet the demand of individuals and businesses, thus increasing the percentage of people using online public services and digital platforms in Vietnam.

In addition, the Prime Minister highly valued the industry's achievements in 2022.

According to the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), in 2022, Vietnam's information technology (IT) revenue is estimated at nearly VND3.9 quadrillion (US$165 billion), up 12.7% year-on-year.

ICT industry revenue in 2022 is estimated at $148 billion, up 8.7% from 2021.

Telecom service revenue reached VND138 trillion, up 1.6% year-on-year. Profit after tax is estimated at VND44.5 trillion, up 3.8%.

The number of smartphone subscribers is estimated at 105.88 million, accounting for about 75.8%, rising 1.4% over the previous year.

The total number of employees in the communication services market in 2022 is 1.5 million, an increase of 5% compared to 2021.

The sector's labor productivity is estimated at VND648 million, a year-on-year growth of 6.7%.

The number of digital technology enterprises in Vietnam is estimated at 70,000, an increase of 9.5% compared to 2021.

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung

Speaking at the conference, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung affirmed that 2023 would be the year the telecommunications industry will focus on commercializing 5G and fighting spam calls.

In 2023, he added that the MIC would continue to promote digital transformation, especially supporting domestic technology enterprises to penetrate foreign markets, thus improving Vietnam's position in the global technology environment.

"2022 is when Vietnamese digital enterprises have increased their footprint in foreign markets such as the US and Japan," Hung said.

This year, Viettel's consolidated foreign telecommunications revenue reached $3 billion, while FPT's foreign IT and digital transformation market revenue was $1 billion, according to the MIC.

Vietnam aims to have 80,000 digital technology enterprises by 2025 and 100,000 by 2030. The tech industry is expected to contribute between 6% and 6.5% to the country's gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025.