Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam ranks seventh among the countries in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of digital society, according to the Digital Society Index released in August by the GSMA, which represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide.

It was followed Australia, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Japan, Thailand, and Malaysia.

Vietnam came fifth in terms of digital commerce and seventh in digital lifestyle.

The report, entitled “Digital societies in Asia Pacific: Progressing towards digital nations”, is the seventh of its kind released by the GSMA. The 2021 edition focused on how countries in Asia-Pacific were accelerating progress on their digital society ambitions through collaboration and a whole-of-government approach (WGA) to implementing digital transformation strategies. The report also chronicled the role connectivity played in the provision of essential services across Asia-Pacific during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year’s edition focusses on the concept of ‘digital nations’, referring to the aspirations of governments across Asia-Pacific to integrate digital technologies and services into every sector of the economy. This makes digitalisation the core element of nation building and a means to achieve sustainable and inclusive economic growth.

Digital platform users in Vietnam skyrocket

Vietnamese’s use of domestic digital platforms recorded a year-on-year rise of 23.5% in August, with 494 million users.

According to data of the Ministry of Information and Communications, Vietnamese spent more than 934 million hours on local platforms, making up 13.77% of the total time they spent on all digital platforms. 

On average, a smart phone user spent 9.93 hours on Vietnamese digital platforms in August, up 11.44% from July and 4.67% from January this year. 

Those using Vietnamese digital platforms account for about 20.33% of the total number of users of digital platforms on mobile devices, a slight increase compared to the previous month.

Five local platforms reported more than 10 million users monthly, namely Zalo with 75 million, followed by Zing Mp3 with 23.6 million, Momo e-wallet 19.6 million, Bao Moi 15.5 million, and Vietcombank application 12 million. 

Digital platform users on mobile devices have been on the rise as the number of new app downloads hit about 312 million in August, surging 19% compared to that in the previous month.

With this momentum, Vietnam is expected to maintain the 7^thꦉ place globally in the number of new mobile app downloads, after India, the US, Brazil, Indonesia, China, and Mexico.

Promoting use of "Made in Vietnam" digital platforms

According to the Ministry of Information and Communications, over the recent past time, ministries, agencies and localities nationwide have actively promoted the use of Vietnamese digital platforms. For example, the VNEID mobile application was officially put into use by the Ministry of Public Security in 2021 with the initial function of supporting declaration of domestic travel history and population mobility for COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control. Later, on July 18, 2022, the ministry’s Police Department for Administrative Management of Social Order announced the integration of the electronic identification application into the VNEID platform. The integration helps replace traditional papers and identifies citizens in the digital environment, as well as provides utilities for developing digital citizens, digital government and digital society. Accordingly, Level-1 e-ID accounts can use a number of basic functions such as making medical declarations and providing vaccination information; handling online public services; paying electricity and water bills; and updating the latest news, articles and announcements from the Ministry of Public Security. Meanwhile, Level-2 e-ID accounts can use all functions and utilities provided by the app such as displaying driver's license, vehicle registration, and health insurance card; using services related to social security; and making financial transactions and money transfers. Thanks to the communications promotion and the active participation of the police, VNEID has experienced a sudden growth. The average number of users in August was estimated at 5.78 million, an increase of 4.86 million from the previous month./.