Computers are assembled at Hanel Limited Company. Hardware-electronics exports reached US$34.7 billion last year, White Book on Information and Communication Technologies says. — VNA/VNS Photo Ha Thai

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — In 2013, Viet Nam earned US$34.7 billion from hardware-electronics exports, representing a 52-per cent year-on-year increase, and spent $26.4 billion on hardware-electronics imports, representing a 35.7-per cent year-on-year decrease.

The figures were announced at a ceremony held here yesterday on the publication of Viet Nam's 2014 White Book on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The National Steering Committee on Information Technology and the Ministry of Information and Communications has been publishing the White Book for the past six years.

According to the latest edition, in 2013, mobile phones accounted for 63 per cent of total export value, followed by automatic data processing machines with 9.82 per cent, printers with 7.25 per cent and integrated circuits with 6.26 per cent. Integrated circuits accounted for 28.5 per cent of total import value while phones and spare parts took 32.4 per cent.

On internet development, by the end of 2013, the country had 22.4 million broadband internet subscribers, an 11.2-per cent year-on-year increase, reaching an internet density of 25 per 100 people.

Total internet bandwidth in 2013 reached 640,000 Mbps, an 83-per cent year-on-year increase, while the total number of internet users climbed from 31.3 million in 2012 to 33.2 million last year.

Revenues from postal services in 2013 reached $317 million, a 15.7-per cent year-on-year increase, with services of the Viet Nam Posts and Telecommunication Group (VNPT) accounting for more than 50 per cent of market share.

However, the telecommunication market in 2013 witnessed a decrease in the number of mobile phone subscribers, from 131.6 million in 2012 to 123.7 million in 2013, while fixed-line phone subscribers likewise decreased from 9.5 million in 2012 to 6.7 million in 2013.

Meanwhile, Viet Nam dropped by two grades in the ICT Development Index, from 86th in 2012 to 88th in 2013. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) measured the index that ranked 155 countries.

But the country's IT industry remained among the top 10 in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of offshore services, with HCM City in the list of the world's top 20 and Ha Noi in the list of the world's top 30 outsourcing destinations. — VNS