Hanoi Times – Vietnam telecommunications has significantly grown up when we are entering a new era of mobile information and bandwidth Internet, asserted Jean Pierre Achouche.

France Telecom’s Vietnam Regional Director made the statement in a recent interview with Vietnamese reporters o­n the celebration of the group’s 10-year operation in Vietnam.

He praised Vietnam’s impressive telecommunication development with seven mobile operators, nearly 35 million mobile-phone subscribers and 1.2 million ADSL subscribes.

“By keeping the current high growth rate, Vietnam will surely become o­ne of ASEAN’s leading countries in telecommunication and information technology and earn US$ 5.5 billion by 2010,” said Mr. Jean Pierre Achouche.

He went o­n to say that France Telecom is proud of contributing to the country’s vigorous development and wants to be Vietnam’s strategic partner in mobile telecommunication.

During last ten years, France Telecom has closely cooperated with the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) in building 540,000 fixed telephone lines in Ho Chi Minh City as part of their plan to build a modern telecommunication network which is compatible to that in developed countries.

France Telecom also pledged to help VNPT diversify high-quality telecommunication and convergence services, promote technological transfer, and train qualified technicians and human resource.

In 2008, France Telecom will work with VNPT to admit Vietnamese apprentices to the Orange labs in all over the world and grant MA scholarships to excellent students from the joint training programs between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh National Universities and the Center of France’s Universities.

France Telecom and VNPT are planning to found the PTIT Orange Academy with various training programs o­n mobile technology for Vietnamese trainees.