HA NOI (Biz Hub)— Ha Noi will attempt to raise the percentage of broadband internet subscribers to 25 per cent of the population and the rate of mobile phone ownership to 212 devices per 100 people by 2020.

The director of the Ha Noi Department of Information and Communications, To Van Dong, annonced this at a conference to highlight the city's plans to develop posts and telecommunications in the capital up to 2020.

Dong said that the total investment needed to implement the plan was estimated at VND7.884 trillion (US$378.4 million), coming from the State budget as well as the private sector.

According to the plan, Ha Noi will apply advanced telecommunications technologies to provide reliable 3G and 4G services.

By 2020, Ha Noi will have 80-90 per cent of the city centre's telecoms cables and 50-60 per cent of all suburban cables laid underground to improve the city's landscape.

Dong added that the department was working with the Viet Nam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) to create a number of public Wi-Fi hotspots in places of interest across the city in the near future to service the demands of tourists. —VNS