Hanoi sets target of 1.2 million Net users by 2005
HANOI - Communist
Vietnam has set a target of 1.2 million
Internet users by 2005, up from only
150,000 now, local media reported.
Lowering Internet connection fees,
increasing the number of Internet
service providers and setting up more
public Internet booths in rural areas
are among six measures aimed at
boosting the number of Internet users,
the official Vietnam News Agency
said.
It quoted Mai Liem Truc, general
director of the General Department of Post and Telecommunications, as saying that his agency
has asked the government to lower Internet connection fees from 250 dong (US$0.18) per
minute to 40 dong for customers using more than 1,000 minutes per month and 100 dong for
others.
The department will also grant licences to more Internet service providers to bring the number
to 20 in the next two years, said Truc.
Currently, five state-owned companies provide all Internet services via an approved gateway.
VNA said the state monopoly Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corp is planning to set
up 5,000 Internet connection booths in villages throughout the country to help farmers, who
account for nearly 80% of Vietnam’s 78 million people, access the Internet.
The Associated Press - September 12, 2001.
|