Top 10 ICT developments in 2022

1. National strategy adopted on digital economy and digital society

On March 31, 2022, the prime minister promulgated a national strategy for digital economy and digital society development to 2025, with a vision to 2030. This strategy foresees the centrality of digital development in achieving rapid, sustainable, inclusive development, adaptive and resilient to challenges in a world of unpredictable changes. The vision sets a target for the digital economy to account for 20 and 30 percent of Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025 and 2030, respectively.

2. Prime ministerial instruction on e-government development

On April 26, 2022, the prime minister issued an instruction on e-government development to promote national digitalization. Accordingly, the prime minister instructed ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, and local people's committees to carry out their mandatory assignments. Concurrently, the government also requested agencies and units to coordinate with the Ministry of Public Security, the Government Office, and the Ministry of Information and Communications on infrastructure for linking national databases. Priority is to be given to the databases on business, taxation, customs, banking, driver's licenses, health insurance, education and social security.

3. Amendment of the Law on Radio Frequency voted by the National Assembly for ratification

On November 9, 2022, the National Assembly ratified the amended and revised articles of the Law on Radio Frequency in order to manage and rationally and effectively allocate the right to use radio frequencies, create a healthy telecommunications competition environment, promote the development of the telecommunications infrastructure, contribute to national digital transformation and to the formation of a digital economy and digital society.

4. Declaration of National Digital Transformation Day

On April 22, 2022, the prime minister issued a decision designating October 10 as National Digital Transformation Day to be marked annually in order to raise public awareness of the role, meaning and benefits of digital transformation and promote the participation of the entire political system and the population in the country's digital transformation.

5. VinFuture Award honors global network scientists, inventors

Five scientists were awarded the VinFuture Grand Prize, worth US$3 million for their breakthrough inventions in global internet connection technology. They are Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee (UK), Dr. Vinton Gray Cerf (US), Dr. Emmanuel Desurvire (France), Dr. Robert Elliot Kahn (US), and Prof. Sir David Neil Payne (UK).

Global network technology is the result of numerous inventions serving mankind, creating a firm foundation for the knowledge-based economy and a launch pad for further breakthrough technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, and Big Data.

6. Vietnam becomes microchip supplier

On September 28, 2022, FPT Semiconductor, a unit of Vietnam's leading tech company FPT, launched its first line of semiconductor chips used in medical devices as part of its efforts to enter the competitive global industry.

The company said in a statement it aims to supply 25 million chips globally by 2023 and is eyeing Japan, Chinese Taipei, China and the US as key markets for the chips that are used in everything from consumer electronics to aerospace and have been in high demand due to supply chain disruptions since the pandemic.

The finished FPT design will be transferred to the factory in the Republic of Korea (RoK) for production and packaging.

7. Phasing out 2nd, 3rd network generations

Internet service providers have started turning off 2G signals in some places where the demand is low. Nevertheless, Viettel is the first operator in Vietnam to turn off the nationwide 3G network with its 35,000 stations. Compared to the global practice, Viettel is one of the few pioneering operators to turn off 3G. The general network quality and customer service experience after the 3G phase-out remained steady, efficient and growing.

The 2G and 3G phase-out helps providers simplify networks, optimize the infrastructure for new technology development, optimize operating costs, and add frequency resources to 4G networks for service quality improvement in the context of increasing data traffic and 4G subscribers.

8. Internet providers join force to fight spam calls

On August 29, 2022, Viettel, VNPT, MobiFone, Vietnamobile, Local, Itel and Gmobile signed a joint agreement to prevent and handle spam calls. This is the first time that network operators have joined hands to block spam calls, with their adverse social consequences. The Ministry of Information and Communications affirms that it will resolutely inspect and publicly penalize network operators that do not seriously handle garbage SIMs, while subscriber information must be cleaned to avoid social consequences, rather than to pass off the burden end users.

9. Samsung launches major Hanoi R&D Center

On December 23, Samsung Vietnam officially inaugurated and put into operation a Research and Development (R&D) Center in Hanoi, the company’s largest hub in Southeast Asia.

The US$200 million R&D Center has 16 floors and three basements, covering a total construction area of 11,603 square meters and a floor area of 79,511s.qm. It is the first large-scale high-rise building devoted to technology development in Vietnam.

10. Vietnam holds first blockchain summit

Held for the first time in Vietnam, the Vietnam Blockchain Summit 2022 attracted thousands of delegates, speakers and experts, leading blockchain technology names in the world and Vietnam (such as Kyber Network, Gala Games, Sky Mavis, DFG, FTX, Binance, BNB Chain, Chainalysis, OKC, AAX). The summit creates connections for technology consultation and promotion of the digital economy. Vietnam is considered a highlight on the world map with a large number of blockchain projects and highly-qualified blockchain human resources.