The Ministry of Information and Communications has reported to have 130.4 million phone subscribers in Vietnam, reaching 152.7 phones/100 residents. Mobile subscribers account for 85.4 percent.
Viettel has 42.5 million mobile users, 1.5 times more than in early 2008. Previously, experts forecast that the number of mobile subscribers would slow in 2009 and reach saturation in 2010.
In reality, the number of mobile subscribers grew strongly in 2009 and by the end of the year, new networks like Vietnamobile and Beeline also had over 2 million subscribers each.
The number of active subscribers is still a mystery. Mobile operators speculate that, excluding inactive numbers and the number of users who use several phone numbers at the same time, around 50 percent of the population are mobile users.
By the end of 2009, Vietnam had 22.47 million Internet users, accounting for 26.2 percent of population. The total broadband Internet subscribers reached 2.89 million, making up 3.38 percent.
According to MoIC, despite the global crisis, revenues of the post and telecommunications sector in 2009 reached 143.31 trillion dong, up by 61 percent compared to 2008. The sector paid taxes of 13.9 trillion dong.
The Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) earned 78.65 trillion dong while the Viettel group obtained 60.05 trillion dong. The Corporation for Financing and Promoting Technology (FPT) earned 1.9 trillion dong of revenue and pre-tax profits of 449 billion dong.
