Staff at VNPT's Customer Care Centre answer calls from customers. — VNA/VNS Photo Minh Tu

HA Noi (Biz Hub) — The Vietnamese telecom market will improve vastly after its restructuring is complete, said Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Bac Son.

Minister Son said the restructuring of the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) would represent a breakthrough for the country's telecom and information technology (IT) industry, especially since other local firms in the industry continue to face challenges on several fronts, the minister told reporters on the occasion of the Lunar New Year.

The minister mentioned the restructuring of VNPT while speaking about the group's 2013 financial results and its targets for this year.

Son pointed out that the ministry has sped up the pace of restructuring of State-owned enterprises in the telecom industry.

He noted a plan for restructuring VNPT had been submitted to the Goverment. Under the plan, Mobifone (Vietnam Mobile Telecom Service Company) will be spun off from VNPT and privatised to renew the momentum for growth in the telecom sector. Minister Son added that after the VNPT restructuring process is complete, Viet Nam's telecom market is likely to receive a boost to its development.

He added that since the beginning of this year, the ministry has required media and related agencies to disseminate information about State policies and the results of the restructuring of State-owned enterprises (SOEs).

The ministry will also urge the telecom companies to diversify their services, raise their professional standards, enhance the use of advanced technology and improve the scope and extent of their added values.

It has directed the Vietnam Multimedia Corporation (VTC) to outline a plan to separate its digital television operations from the corporation, following Decision 132/2013/ND-CP issued in October 2013. A plan to restructure the corporation will be decided after the spin-off of the television operations is complete.

2013 results

Son said that last year had been a very tough year for telecom companies, as they faced many challenges. However, the telecom sector made significant contributions to the country's economic growth.

It is estimated that last year, the export turnover of mobile phones and accessories increased to US$22.7 billion, which was 78.8 per cent higher than 2012's figure.

Similarly, the revenue from the exports of electronic components and computers amounted to $11.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 41.8 per cent, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO). Thus, the export value of the telecom and IT sector climbed to $33.9 billion, accounting for 25.6 per cent of the country's total export turnover (the country's total export turnover for 2013 came in at $132.2 billion).

VNPT posted a revenue of VND119 trillion ($5.6 billion), up 102.5 per cent from 2012, while Viettel's total revenue is estimated at VND162 trillion ($7.7 billion), up 15.2 per cent over 2012.

Together, VNPT and Viettel contributed more than VND25 trillion ($1.1 billion)to the VND174.2 trillion ($8.2 billion) collected to the State budget. — VN