Vietnam among worst internet performers
HANOI - Vietnam is among the Asia Pacific region's worst performers in terms of Internet use and will continue to be if it does not relax regulations soon, state media warned Wednesday.
A recent study by Vietnam's central commission for science and education showed Vietnam was in the slow lane on the information highway, with just 0.1 Internet users per 100 people, compared to 15 per 100 in the region, Vietnam News reported.
Monopolistic regulation of the system is hampering the country's Internet growth, the study said.
"Corporate monopoly on Internet access has spelt poor quality service, slow speed, bottlenecks, high charges and illegal access by strangers," according to the newspaper.
Vietnam has just one Internet access provider, which is owned by the state, for its 120,000 Internet subscribers.
The study noted the need for relaxation of regulations, the promotion of a competitive market, and the lowering of telecoms charges.
Experts also said the firewall system, which Hanoi installed when it first embraced the web in 1997 in order to prevent access to certain anti-communist websites, leads to refusal of access to subscribers because of overloaded traffic.
"The firewall system is simply not a realistic measure," Internet director of FPT Corporation, Truong Dinh Anh, was quoted as saying.
Vietnam had anticipated an astronomically high number of Internet users by 2010, but Internet experts said the realistic projection is more like one million.
"They also argue that for changes of greater magnitude, the existing corporate monopoly regime has to go," the newspaper added.
South African Press Agency - DPA - April 11, 2001.
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