The world’s leading information technology group - IBM - held its first ever seminar in Hanoi on November 5 to introduce its cutting-edge technologies to Vietnam’s telecommunications sector.

The Vice President of IBM’s communications sector in charge of growing markets, Tim Greisinger, said that his group has seen many changes and opportunities in Vietnam and they want to work with the country to step up the process.

Greisinger said Vietnam is on the list of 149 countries and territories around the world to have attracted the interest of leading telecoms and IT providers and expressed his group’s willingness to help Vietnam develop the sectors.

The IBM executive suggested that Vietnamese telecoms service providers should develop new business models and accelerate the use of advanced telecoms technologies, especially broadband services, to ensure a stronger growth in the telecoms sector.

Attending the event, the Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Hung reiterated the nation’s commitment to creating the right conditions for multinational IT-communications groups, such as IBM, to do business in Vietnam.

He said he expects more Vietnamese telecoms companies to team up with foreign partners in an effort to boost the growth of the national IT-communications sector.

According to the International Telecoms Union, Vietnam has posted one of the highest telecoms growth rates in the world in recent years.

Vietnam currently has a total of 117 million telephone subscribers, including 99 million mobile phone subscribers, representing 59 percent and 65 percent increases, respectively, over the same period last year.

The number of Internet subscribers has grown by 44.6 percent to 2.8 million and the number of Internet users has hit 22 million, or 25.6 percent of the country’s population.