The future of 3G in Vietnam

6 months after the launch of 3G in Vietnam, local telcos realize that 3G is not a gold mine as they expected since the revenue from 3G is quite modest compared to 2G.

For me, it is easy to understand. Let's look at an example, Mobifone 3G will cost you 150.000VND for one-month 384Kbps package and 300.000VND for 7Mbps package. I think it is expensive to most of Vietnamese people, even for those IT guys like me. Normal local users also have no reason to use 3G since Wifi is now available everywhere: home, office, cafes, hotels, restaurant...

So in the near future, I think 3G is still too far to reach for Vietnamese users. Just until its price drop to an appropriate amount (maybe less than 100.000VND for one-month), or there will be an integrated solution between home ADSL  and 3G, so users don't have to pay twice for the Internet, it will be the time for 3G. At this time, Wifi is still the best choice for most of local users :)

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Vietnam 2010 - A connected country

Last week, I had a trip to Can Tho to see the new bridge and nearby provinces include Vinh Long & Tra Vinh. This was the first time I was capable with an Android smartphone and a 3G connection. It has made my trip more fun :)

In the past, some long trips may took me up to 10 hours sitting in the bus doing nothing beyond looking at both sides on the road. But now, it does not last any longer. With a smartphone and 3G, I can play online games, looking at the map to see interesting places around me and searching for more related information. Technology really makes life easier in this situation!

I remember since the first time playing with the Internet, I never imagine that once day I can easily access Internet anywhere in Vietnam with just a handheld device. But in less than ten years, this has become reality. And it has enabled me to do much more thing, be able to access to a large amount of information on the Internet everywhere at anytime.

Then it made me think all Vietnamese now have a chance to access to Internet. So if they can utilize it, they can benefit much from a flat world nowadays no matter who they are, a peasant or just a worker. It turns out that education will be the key component for Vietnam in the next step, to reach the goal becoming a strong ICT country after it has become an Internet connected country.

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Posted in: featured,it,vietnam