Given its status as a lower-middle-income economy, Vietnam has made impressive strides in broadband development. It has the highest fixed broadband penetration among low and lower-middle income countries in Asia. Though IMT-2000 WCDMA 3G networks were only introduced in 2009, the number of mobile broadband subscriptions already exceeds fixed broadband. Rapid economic growth and relatively high literacy levels have contributed to this achievement. Incomes have risen so more people can afford broadband services while many people, at least in urban areas, have the skills and awareness to access and use content and applications delivered over high speed networks.

In terms of policy and regulatory tools for developing broadband, Vietnam has forged its own path. This has often run contrary to typical recommendations for achieving ICT growth. There is no separate sector regulatory entity, the largest operators are government owned and direct foreign investment in the telecommunications market has been limited for political reasons.13 There has not been a significant change since 2002 with one report remarking: “…the unwillingness of the Vietnamese governments to convert the BCCs into joint venture agreements by permitting a degree of foreign ownership.” See: Minges, Michael, and Tim Kelly. 2002. Vietnam Internet Case Study. Geneva: International Telecommunication Union. http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/cs/vietnam/index.html. Nevertheless the country has developed a high level of competition among mainly state-owned enterprises.

5.1 Social-economic characteristics

When the Internet started to appear in Vietnam in 1997, prices were high and speeds slow, and only a few people had the need and conditions to access the Internet. However, the opening of the economy and enhanced integration with other countries in the region and the world, and the abolishment of monopoly in telecommunications, has significantly improved the ICT market sector.

Parallel to this, the demand for Internet and especially broadband increased and this opportunity was well exploited by the service operators. In addition to improving service quality, the price for Internet access and value added services also improved. With access charges declining, service quality improving, variety in the number of services offered increasing and incomes rising, favorable conditions have been created for sustained broadband growth in Vietnam over the coming years.

On the other hand, telecommunications providers are developing new services but most of these services are only suitable for high-speed fiber optic transmission. The cost of installation and use of these services is high and only suitable in new urban areas and large enterprises. Fiber to the Home (FTTH) is quite expensive, so ADSL is the first choice of the household even though it is difficult to upgrade the transmission capacity.

5.2 Technological capability

Vietnamese telecommunications service providers now have a system of modern telecommunications equipment with thousands of broadband Internet connection ports. Each service provider has developed the network infrastructure with modern IP-based networks. The transmission system is built with extensive fiber optic and digital microwave transmission technology to support multimedia data services. The new broadband services exploiting NGNs meets the needs of advanced users for voice, video and data. However, with diverse forms of services provided, price pressure is a challenge for service providers today.

Continuous investment in new technologies to improve and update technology to keep pace with world trends is a requirement of the market as well as goals for telecommunications businesses. Pressure on traditional service prices have led to disparities in investment in telecommunications infrastructure. Telecom enterprises are focusing on developing mobile networks without development of the wired network; meanwhile the wired network is critical to build long-term telecommunications infrastructure.

On the other hand, due to competition in Vietnam's telecommunications market (there are around a dozen enterprises providing telecommunications infrastructure), providers have a common need in sharing, but sharing telecommunications infrastructure is difficult, leading to overlap in investment in the access network. This causes problems of wasted resources, difficulties for users, visual pollution, etc. There are too many businesses providing infrastructure development making it difficult for interconnection because every operator applies different technology. This does not lead to harmonization in national telecommunications infrastructure and is not sustainable to meet the development needs of the country in the future. The service providers are now trying to develop a shared co-operation network infrastructure but so far no specific measures have been implemented due to disagreement on the benefits as well as a lack appropriate regulatory guidelines.

Internet today is associated with modern life. Young people in urban areas, especially Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh "live" with Internet because of their favorable condition and because network access is better than in the provinces. They can find everything they need with the Internet and actively choose their favorite entertainment. An emerging issue is the management of harmful information in conflict with Vietnamese traditions. High-speeds, rich content and reasonable prices are urgent needs for Internet users in general and students in particular. Especially in the present moment, when the Internet is being deployed in schools and expanded to rural, mountainous areas, the policy for development of the Internet in general and broadband in particular should ensure rational development of infrastructure and services as well as the ensuring quality.

The lack of relevant content, as well as fragmented information, calls for a public information network through a unified portal, equipped with an automatic translation engine, with rich multimedia content such as health, education, culture, agriculture, libraries, etc.