Experts discuss future trends in IT, communications market

HCM CITY — Foreign and local experts and business executives met at a three-day seminar ending yesterday to compare notes and to discuss trends in information and communications technologies and services.

Organised by the Viet Nam Post and Telecommunications (VNPT) Group and Adsale exhibition Services Ltd, it was part of the 12th international exhibition in Viet Nam on telecommunications, information technology and electronics products.

In a message, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Hung said grasping the changing trends in technology and building a competitive business environment are essential for a flourishing ICT industry.

Figures tabled at the seminar show the telecom sector had a turnover of VND67 trillion (US$4 billion) last year, 36 per cent higher the previous year.

Since 2004 the telephone market has grown rapidly, with mobile subscriptions doubling every year and landlines growing 18 per cent a year.

As of September 2008 the total number of subscribers was 70.4 million while the teledensity phone was 82.5 per 100 people.

There were 20.5 million Internet subscribers, four times more than at the beginning of this year.

Software sales was $498 million, with $318 million in the domestic market and the rest exported.

The ICT industry employed around 261,000 people.

Trends in technology

Nguyen Trong Duong, deputy director of the Department of Information and Technology (DIT), said convergence is increasing rapidly.

The future would see the convergence of customer electronics, information technology and communications; the Internet, digital content, and mobile communications; and technology and services, he said.

Pham Hong Hai, director of the Telecommunication Department, said a telecommunications bill, to be discussed by the National Assembly at the end of 2009 and likely to take effect in July 2010, would facilitate convergence.

The DIT said the rapid increase in the number of mobile phone and Internet subscribers, introduction of broadband and 3G services and wimax networks, and the improved legal environment would boost the development of digital content services.

Masatoshi Suzuki, senior executive vice president of Japanese telecom behemoth NTT DoCoMo, said Viet Nam has enormous potential in 3G services. The government is set to grant licences to four 3G service providers next year.

Duong, however, said Viet Nam’s ICT industry faces many problems like bad quality of data transmission, information security, and crime.

DIT added expensive technical infrastructure to that list.

The seminar was also attended by information technology and telecommunications ministers of Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar. —

Local gold prices rebound following global trends

HA NOI — Domestic gold prices yesterday rebounded by VND150,000-200,000 to around VND17.70 million (US$1,077) per tael (a tael is equivalent to 1.2 ounces), and prices were expected to stay up in the coming days.

Given the increase, the level was the lowest since May 2’s VND17.20 million.

The increase was reportedly due to global gold price rises.

Sai Gon Jewelry Co (SJC) yesterday listed buy/sell prices at VND17.70-17.77 million ($1,075-1,080) per tael in Ha Noi and HCM City, from VND17.60-17.70 per tael ($1,069-1,075) over Saturday’s price.

Ha Noi-based Bao Tin Minh Chau Jewelry Co (BTMC), meanwhile, listed prices at VND17.72-17.84 million ($1,077-1,084) per tael.

Phu Nhuan Jewellery Co (PNJ) in Ha Noi listed selling/buying prices for PNJ-DAB brand gold at VND17.65-17.79 million per tael ($1,073-1,081).

On the global market, the price of gold rose to $868.8 per ounce, up $5 per ounce from the previous trading session.

“Obviously, local gold prices are matching the upward trend of global gold prices,” said Nguyen Huu Dang, a BTMC’s staff.

Tran Quoc Quynh, a senior gold expert at Viet Nam Gold Trading Association told Viet Nam News that $856 per ounce on the global market was the bottom, and the spring back to $868 per ounce was normal.

“Global gold price will increase to $870-885 per ounce over coming days as oil prices move up during the military conflict between Russia and Georgia,” Quynh predicted.

The US dollar yesterday hit a six-month high against the euro to around 0.67 euro.

However, domestic gold prices would not surge strongly due to oil prices still standing at modestly low levels, Chu Van Hoc, business manager of SJC Ha Noi told Viet Nam News.

Local demand of jewellery gold is expected to hike during the latter part of the year.

Viet Nam imported 60 tonnes of gold in the first five months of the year worth $1.8 billion, doubling the total imports of the same period last year, said Dinh Nho Bang, general secretary of Viet Nam Gold Trading Association.

Viet Nam decided to temporarily suspend gold imports, which took effect about early June, to narrow its trade deficit. —