Mobile Money was piloted by giant telecoms companies in Vietnam such as Viettel, VNPT and MobiFone from November 2021, with the ambition of state agencies to become a convenient financial application for citizens nationwide.
Sadly, after three months, reports reveal that among 122 million mobile phone subscribers in Vietnam, only 835,000 are using this app, accounting for less than 0.7 percent.
“Thanks to a wide coverage of bank branches and offices in Vietnam, offering easy Internet Banking service or e-wallet, Mobile Money is merely a weak option” said Thanh Tai from Binh Khanh Commune of Can Gio District in Ho Chi Minh City. This is quite contradicting to expert prediction for developing nations with very restricted access to digital financial services.
Sharing the same gloomy fate is the program ‘Supporting Poor People with Smartphones’. With a humane purpose, the HCMC departments of Information & Communications and Labor, War Invalids & Social Affairs were planning to provide 50-70 percent of the poor in the city with smartphones in 2022 for daily utilities, which was wholeheartedly welcomed by the society. However, the only finished step is making a list of needy people from reports of the local authorities!
One mobile phone shop owner commented that the program is practical indeed to improve the living standards of the poor, but should follow a more methodical plan. The city does have surplus resources to complete such a meaningful program; however, it should cooperate with a mobile network carrier for implementation so that device receivers are more aware of their responsibility to use the phone more properly.
Since 2020, leading telecoms businesses in Vietnam such as Viettel, VinaPhone, and MobiFone rushed to pilot the 5G technology in 16 main cities (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Da Nang, Hai Phong, Can Tho) and provinces (Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Binh Phuoc, Thua Thien – Hue, Quang Ninh, Vinh Phuc, Dong Nai, Thai Nguyenm Binh Duong, Ben Tre, and Ba Ria – Vung Tau). After two years, the piloting time has not finished yet!
There is no formal answer from these network carriers about the specific time for 5G technology commercialization. For instance, following the grand 5G network pilot of Viettel in Thu Duc City at the end of December 2020, everyone has hoped that the advanced technology could be effectively applied in the Eastern innovative highly-interactive urban area. The truth is there is not any 5G app for daily activities, while the official band of the 5G network has not been identified, said Vice Chairman of Thu Duc City People’s Committee Nguyen Ky Phung.
Since the investment in this advanced technology is not at all cheap but the real demand is not so high, and localities sometimes do not own suitable apps or specific implementation plans, many carriers are quite afraid to commercialize it.
Among the key missions of HCMC in 2022 is telecoms infrastructure development, including the mobile bandwidth of 4G and 5G, the support for poor people to participate in digital transformation and digital service use. It is, therefore, necessary for the municipal authorities to quickly and systematically implement the meaningful programs above.
