Over the last decade, growth in Vietnam’s economy coupled with increasing per capita income led to a significant increase in demand for Information and Communications Technology (ICT). Vietnam’s ICT industry grew substantially during the period of 2008-13 and the total revenue in 2013 reached US$39.5 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 55.3 per cent (Source: Ministry of Information and Communications, White Book on Information and Communication 2014, Oct 2014).
The government has identified ICT as a key sector contributing to the country’s development and has devised a Master Plan on Information Technology, which specifies targets for 2020 and aims at turning Vietnam into an advanced ICT country (Source: Ministry of Information and Communications, IT Master Plan approved, 26 Dec 2011). There are four major ICT focus areas, addressing supply as well as demand: