Harvey Nash Vietnam joins hand with FSoft

HCMC – Harvey Nash Vietnam has signed a cooperation agreement with FPT Software Joint Stock Company (Fsoft) to carry out information technology projects.

Ton That Nam Tran from Harvey Nash Vietnam said that the firm and Fsoft would conduct projects in three fields, including mobility, cloud computing and big data for foreign markets from now until 2015.
“Fsoft has plans to invest in the United Kingdom. Therefore, Harvey Nash Vietnam will support Fsoft in studying the market and selling software services in this market,” said Tran at the signing on Tuesday.
Since 2000, the two firms have carried out around 400 projects on software, enterprises resource planning (ERP) and business process outsourcing (BPO).
Regarding the software outsourcing, Harvey Nash Vietnam has obtained a high growth of around 30-40% per year in its main markets such as Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, the U.S. and Southeast Asia.
By Dinh Nghia - The Saigon Times Daily
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Incentives okayed for Samsung expansion project

HCMC – The Government has approved strong incentives for an expansion project of Samsung in Bac Ninh Province, whose investment capital is raised from US$670 million to US$1.5 billion.

In a document issued in mid-September, the Government asked the Ministry of Planning and Investment to give relevant agencies guidelines on revising the investment certificate for the second-phase of the project of Samsung Electronics Vietnam Co. Ltd., including the incentives requested by the investor.
The planning ministry and relevant agencies will work with Samsung to help it revise the expansion project so that the investor will enjoy the biggest incentives under the prevalent laws.
As such, Samsung will go ahead with its expansion plan as incentives are a prerequisite for the firm to expand its investment.
Samsung has written to many agencies seeking investment incentives for its expansion project and confirming its determination in Vietnam’s market.
However, the fact that it has had to knock at many doors also exposes many shortcomings in the investment incentive mechanism of Vietnam. Not only Samsung, a number of other investors have encountered the same problem.
Samsung’s petition for incentives was submitted to the Government late last year. The company proposed a corporate income tax rate of 10% during the project’s lifetime, a tax exemption for four years and a 50% tax reduction for the following nine years for all electric and electronics products of the project. These incentives are almost similar to the ones already awarded to the investor in its first-stage investment.
However, under the current regulations, expansion projects are not given incentives.
According to the government of Bac Ninh Province, the expansion project of Samsung might be mulled for corporate income tax incentives as this is a high-tech investor. The company as a high-tech investor has enjoyed a preferential income tax rate of 10% for 15 years, a four-year tax exemption and a 50% tax reduction for the following nine years after it reports taxable incomes.
The province proposed the Government give the above special treatment to the expanded part of the project of Samsung based on the post-check mechanism.
The expansion project with capital spurred from US$670 million to US$1.5 billion in the 2015-2020 period and the investment in a R&D center in Vietnam will take the total revenue of Samsung Electronics Vietnam to US$20 billion a year, create jobs for more than 30,000 laborers and attract some 300 satellite enterprises.
The project to establish the Samsung technology complex in Vietnam is an enormous scheme and it has been deployed in line with schedule and commitments to the Government, said Bac Ninh’s government.
As of end-2011, Samsung had disbursed US$492 million into the project, or 73.43% of the total registered capital for the first stage. The investor plans to inject an additional US$684.7 million by late this year.
The project has created jobs for 23,000 laborers. The total output capacity reaches 100 million products for the whole year, with sales estimated to amount to US$10 billion including an export value of US$9.5 billion.
By Quoc Hung - The Saigon Times Daily
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Statistics on broadband subscriptions doubted

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)
 

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Hi-tech park gets mobile application laboratory

 A mobile application laboratory, known as mLab, on Monday was put into operation at the HCMC Hi-tech Park with an aim to support and boost creative activities of individuals and organizations in the mobile application sector.

Le Hoai Quoc, director of the HCMC Hitech Park Authority, said the facility is an open space where technology businessmen and application developers can work, interact with one another and gain access to specialized tools.
According to Quoc, the laboratory not only provides technology infrastructure to individuals and entities to create mobile applications but also plays an intermediate role between investors and companies to release products from laboratories onto the market.
The laboratory is within the framework of the program “Establishing sustainable firms in the knowledge-based economy” carried out by the Information for Development program of the World Bank and the Netherlands government along with Nokia.
Besides Vietnam, the project has also been developed in Kenya, South Africa, Pakistan and Armenia. It now is being deployed and managed by the hi-tech park, the HCMC National University, FPT University and Elcom Co.
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Int’t conference to discuss future of Vietnam mobile sector

The future of the mobile telecom industry of Vietnam will be a topic of discussion at the International Conference and Exhibition Mobile Vietnam 2012 which will take place in Hanoi from October 18 to 21.

Within the framework of the event, an international conference themed “Future of Vietnam’s mobile sector” will be held. The conference will discuss hot issues in the local mobile telecom market such as the battle over mobile service charges, competition strategies, orientations and policies, said Pham Hong Hai, head of the Authority of Telecommunications under the Ministry of Information and Communications.
Mobile Vietnam 2012 will be attended by senior officials of the Government and relevant agencies, and local and foreign mobile operators including Viettel, VNPT, Sony, Ericsson, Telcordia, Huawei, Samsung and Gelmato.
The event also provides a chance for mobile service providers to market their products and promote cooperation among producers, traders and service suppliers as well as between businesses and State management agencies.
Hoang Son, director of Viettel Telecom, said Viettel would share experience in exploring the telecom markets at home and abroad and introduce the products under research and development at the conference.
VinaPhone and MobiFone will display 3G products at the event, said Bui Quoc Viet, director of the Information Center under Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT). Meanwhile, Ericsson Vietnam will present the benefits of 3G together with other products and services.
By Van Oanh - The Saigon Times Daily

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The ASEAN Foundation and Microsoft expand partnership

The ASEAN Foundation today announced that it would implement a new ICT training programme for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), funded by a $300,000 grant from Microsoft.
The programme will target young entrepreneurs aged 16-25, and focus on the latest ICT applications for SME development. Over the next 24 months, the pilot project is expected to reach more than 20,000 people—youth, students, and women—and close to 1,000 SMEs from Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
Dr. Makarim Wibisono, ASEAN Foundation executive director remarked: “Our vision for this ICT programme is that it will not only help increase growth and competitiveness among micro-entrepreneurs in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, but that its success will also lead to the future implementation of similar projects in other ASEAN countries. Through our long-standing collaboration with Microsoft, The ASEAN Foundation stands ready to help people across the region realize greater opportunity through improved access to information technology.”
Tracey Fellows, president of Microsoft Asia Pacific, said: “I am delighted to launch this grant, a first for Microsoft in the region in its scope and breadth, and the next exciting step in our long-term partnership with The ASEAN Foundation. SMEs are the lifeblood of most countries in this region. Through this partnership we want to enable the next generation of young people to start their own business or create their own opportunities. This grant reflects our belief in the power of technology to help transform lives, and the social and economic development of every nation.”
The launch of the programme is a key milestone in tackling rising jobless rates among young people. According to a paper released in early September by the International Labour Organization titled “Global Employment Outlook: Bleak Labour Market Prospects for Youth”, youth unemployment rates in South East Asia and the Pacific are forecasted to rise from 13.1 per cent in 2012 to 14.2 per cent in 2017.
The new programme will see close collaboration between non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academia and organisations from the public and private sectors, working together to help young entrepreneurs realise their full potential through activities such as:
· Development and delivery of ICT curriculum tailored for the needs of micro-entrepreneurs, to help them understand how they can use technology most effectively to sustain and grow their businesses.
· A ‘Train the Trainer’ series to help communities extend the reach of this curriculum across the region.
· Selection of one entrepreneur for an E-Business Incubation program, which will provide mentorship and assistance as they implement ICT marketing tools into their business operations.
The project announced today expands upon The ASEAN Foundation’s partnership with Microsoft, which began in 2005 and has resulted in the development of ICT curriculum for farmers in rural areas, and delivery of ICT training to more than 50,000 people in Indonesia.

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Vietnam spends more on IT

Vietnam’s spending on information technology (IT) is growing at an average rate of 17% per year, almost hitting US$3 billion in 2011 and forecast to reach US$3.5 billion in 2012 if the tempo is maintained.

Speaking at a workshop on Vietnam information and communication technology held in HCMC on Wednesday, Nguyen Trong Duong, head of the IT department under the Ministry of Information and Communications, said Vietnam’s IT spending had been rising sharply in the last five years, despite economic uncertainties.
According to the White Book of IT released on the same day, Vietnam’s IT spending is surging by some 17% every year, amounting to US$2.9 billion in 2011, twice as much as the figure of US$1.4 billion in 2006.
Hardware and software make up a large proportion in the structure of IT spending in Vietnam, reaching 88% in 2006. However, the proportion of spending on hardware is gradually shrinking, standing at around 84% in 2011, equivalent to US$2.4 billion, while spending on software and IT services keeps picking up.
Moreover, Vietnam’s hardware export has been growing over the past years. In 2011, hardware and electronic products brought in US$11.3 billion, up 101% against 2010, accounting for 82% of the total revenue of the IT industry.
This impressive growth is attributed to the export revenues of Samsung, Canon, Panasonic, Foxcomm and Nokia, whose factories in Vietnam have been completed, allowing them to boost export of hardware and electronic products.
Export turnover of computers, electronic products and components, and telecom devices totaled US$10.89 billion in 2011, rising more than 92.2% year-on-year. For the first time, export turnover surpassed import turnover, resulting a trade surplus of US$428 million for the industry.
Cell phones generate the highest export revenue, making up 60% of the total turnover.
While hardware export records significant growth, telecommunications, which is seen as a gold mine for enterprises, witnesses its growth slowing down. The industry obtained unsatisfactory revenues last year because citizens and businesses cut spending on telecommunications.
Specifically, the total revenue of the telecommunications sector was US$7 billion in 2011, down 26% against 2010. Notably, revenue of mobile phone services dropped from US$5.7 billion to US$5.4 billion, but still accounted for 77.5% of the total revenue.
http://businesstimes.com.vn

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