The Hanoi Times - Vietnam has jumped 15 spots o­n a worldwide list measuring information and communication technology development.

The ICT Development Index, developed by the International Telecommunication Union, measured 154 countries from 2002-07.

Vietnam’s ranking jumped from 107th to 92nd, putting it among the top 10 developing countries.

The index puts 11 indicators into a single measure to use as global, regional and country level benchmarks.

The indicators relate to ICT access, use and skills, such as households with a computer, the number of internet users and literacy levels.

Other developing countries to climb the index include Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and China.

The union, which attributed the rapid development in the countries to high mobile cellular growth and more internet users, said mobile phone subscribers in Vietnam had increased from 2 million in 2002 to 24 million in 2007.

By the end of last year, Vietnam has 79.4 million telephone subscribers, of which 13 million had landlines, up by 53 percent o­n a year earlier.

Internet use in Vietnam also grew significantly last year with 6.7 million additional subscribers, up 28.4 percent from the previous year.

Boasting 20.67 million internet users, Vietnam is among the top 20 countries in terms of internet use