Statistics of the General Statistics Office (GSO)
show there was no growth in new broadband Internet subscriptions in
April-August, which stayed at 4.4 million users, but in reality,
broadband Internet services in the country were expanding in the period.
This partly results from the different statistical methods and changes in the way people use the Internet.
Bui Quoc Viet, director of the Information Center under
Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), said VNPT achieved
almost half of the 2012 target for Internet ADSL service in the first
half and that the growth was equivalent to 110% of the same period last
year. Growth in recent months has amounted to 10%, he noted.
Fresh Internet subscriptions at NetNam Corporation have
in recent months risen by 8%, and FPT Telecom has reported its steady
growth.
Explaining why the GSO statistics are different from
reality, Tran Minh Tan, deputy director of the Vietnam Internet Network
Information Center (VNNIC), said statistics of GSO were merely monthly
projections based on reports of enterprises and figures of VNNIC.
Tan said monthly reports which enterprises send to VNNIC
were normally written in the middle of the following month, which is
later than GSO announcements of statistics that are mainly based on
figures in previous months.
For example, in January this year, when VNNIC had no
report of last year compiled by enterprises, GSO calculated and
estimated that the total Internet users nationwide last year numbered
33.4 million, with broadband Internet subscribers accounting for 4.33
million.
After statistics of VNNIC were released, GSO found such
figures quite high. Therefore, GSO since March this year has made some
adjustments based on VNNIC’s figures so that statistics closely reflect
reality.
Reality shows that the slow broadband Internet growth is
partly caused by the statistical method as well as changes in methods
and technologies for using broadband Internet services, which have not
been taken into account. Meanwhile, GSO has just collected statistics on
broadband Internet users based on ADSL, one of the first broadband
Internet technologies.
Currently, there are some other ways of accessing
broadband Internet such as fiber optic and third generation (3G). These
new technologies have attracted much attention of broadband Internet
users thanks to their speed and mobility.
While the ADSL service has only attracted 4.4 million
users though it has been present on the market for long, 3G has achieved
stronger-than-expected growth.
Statistics of the Ministry of Information and
Communications indicate that since 3G was launched nearly three years
ago, over 16 million people had subscribed to this service by June this
year, 3.2 million higher than the number released early this year.
However, the 3G users only accounted for around 14% of the total mobile
phone subscribers.
Besides, according to GSO, the number of new phone users
in January-August reached an estimated 7.65 million, up 13.6% from the
same period last year. Until the end of last month, the total number of
phone users nationwide had amounted to 135.8 million, with 15.1 million
landline subscribers and 120.7 million mobile users.
(http://businesstimes.com.vn)