State Takes Telecoms to the Sticks

Hong Ha

Two government projects are making headway in reducing the huge ‘digital divide’between urban and rural areas in Vietnam. Like other developing economies, Vietnam has had difficulty supplying telecom services to rural areas. More than 70 per cent of the population are farmers who suffer most from a lack of access to information and telecom services.

In urban areas and more advantaged provinces, people are well acquainted with modern telecommunications and the density of telephones in these areas is comparatively high ; at 20 to 25 per cent compared to just 1 to 2 per cent in rural areas.

One proposed solution is the pilot multi-purpose community telecentre (MCT), part of a global test bed for integrated rural development designed by the International Telecommunication Union.

Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corporation (VNPT) official To Chi Thanh said: “The purpose of this pilot project is to test models for the provision of modem access and communication services to rural areas by means of MCTs, established in partnership with local, national and international stakeholders.”

“Successful models developed by the programme can be then replicated on a large scale in Vietnam.”

A preliminary cost-benefit analysis indicated an MCT project could break even after just three or four years of operation. Services provided by MCTs include public information, business support, educational services and tele-medicine services.

The plan involves setting up four MCTs, two in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak and two in northern Ha Bac province. The two provinces were selected for their differing geographical conditions and income levels.

Four application teams were established by the relevant ministries to collaborate on the project.

The Dak Lak MCTs were built in the first phase, with the official launch of the MCTs scheduled for later this month.

Another project to shorten the gap between rural and urban areas is the introduction of the Telecommunications and Post Cultural Points for Communes (TPCPC) programme, which VNPT began in 1998.

TPCPC aims to bring access to basic telecommunications and postal services to every commune. A total of 1,449 communes had these services in 1998, 4,839 in 2000 and 5,431 in 2001. Currently the 2,327 poorest communes in the country all have TPCPC projects.

The project plans to increase the total of communes to 6,136 this year, and reach the target of 100 per cent, or 8,932 communes, by 2005.

The revenue from the project amounts to only 50 per cent of expenditure. “However, the most important purpose of reducing the digital divide has been successfully implemented,” Thanh noted.

Each TPCPC received 25 to 30 visits by local people to read books and newspapers, and use the telecoms services. “We are also working out a plan to introduce Internet access on a larger scale and create web sites for farmers in Vietnam,” Thanh said.

From the Vietnam Investment Review , 1 April 2002.