Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) set an ambitious goal to significantly boost mobile broadband penetration and ensure every adult owns a smartphone, Vietnam News Agency reported.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Pham Duc Long, speaking at the World Mobile Broadband and ICT Summit 2022 in Hanoi, reportedly said the government aimed to increased the number of mobile broadband subscribers from 57 per cent of total users in 2021 to 85 per cent by end-2022.

Considering mobile broadband penetration ros 4 percentage points year-on-year in 2021, hitting the 28-percentage point target would be an impressive achievement.

The country ended 2021 with 70.9 million broadband subscribers, MIC stated.

Data from GSMA Intelligence showed 78 per cent of mobile users had smartphones at end-2021. The country of 97 million people had 156 million mobile connections, including 42.9 million LTE.