Demand for mobile phone and Internet use among young people creates myriad opportunities for telecommunications enterprises now and into the future.
Vietnam has a very young population, with 43.3 per cent of its 86 million people being less than 25 years of age. As information technology develops strongly around the country, the demand for the internet and mobile phones among young people is very high and represents opportunities for enterprises in telecommunications, internet services and so on to develop their services and earn handsome profits.
The Ministry of Health and the General Statistics Office have conducted two surveys on Vietnamese teenagers and youth, called the Survey Assessment of Vietnamese Youth (SAVY). SAVY1 was conducted in 2003 and its results were released in 2005. SAVY2, meanwhile, was conducted in 2008 in all 63 cities and provinces nationwide, surveying more than 10,000 young people between the ages of 14 and 25, and its results were released this year. SAVY 2 found that young people’s lives had changed a lot compared with SAVY 1, especially in using mobile phones and the internet. The mobile penetration rate among young people increased ten-fold and internet MoU (minutes of usage) tripled (to 34 hours per month) compared to the results from SAVY 1. Twenty per cent of teenagers and young people now use the internet for blogging and uploading personal information.
“These figures show that Vietnam’s younger generation have the capacity to access modern technology and be part of development trends from around the world,” said Mr Nguyen Minh Hoang, PR Manager of PeaceSoft Solutions Corporation. Internet coverage, he continued, is no longer limited to big cities and offices and has expanded to provinces, even rural areas, and to households. Vietnamese teenagers and young people clearly know how to approach information technology and keep pace with social tends popular in developed countries around the world. “Vietnam’s young generation are active, ready to join new trends and confident in affirming their personality,” he said.
According to Ms Elizabete Fong, CEO of Vietnamobile, the figures show that Vietnam’s youth segment have fully integrated into the world and are very much like their counterparts worldwide, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, which sees similar figures. “This is a very encouraging statistic that shows more than half of Vietnam’s so-called ‘Golden Age’, its young people, are well-connected, which is very impressive,” she said.
Companies working in mobile phones, internet services and so on recognise the importance of this market segment and have been providing suitable services and targeting them the most.
In the view of Mr Vu Hong Manh, Media Director of the VEGA Corporation, information from SAVY 2 showing large numbers of young Vietnamese people using mobile phones and the internet is very good news for enterprises doing business in online services, mobile marketing, etc., like VEGA. The market for teenagers and young people is developing and blossoming, he added, and for VEGA, “they are our main customers. Nearly 100 per cent of our turnover from services is from young people.”
For Mr Vu Kiem Van, CEO of the Vietnam Social Media Corporation (VSMC), this is not only an extremely special market but also a market that enterprises providing services cannot ignore. “When assessing companies large and small and examining the services provided on mobile phones and the internet, we see that all enterprises care about this market segment,” he said. “And so does VSMC. We are providing content services meeting the daily demands of this segment. Our services, such as comic books, news, films, and music, are highly regarded by the segment and are accessed the most. Our social networking services and blogs are also very popular.”
This is, actually, the main business line of many communications enterprises. Mr Nguyen Ba Dai, Deputy Managing Director of CDMA S-Telecom Mobile Center, said that S-Fone’s development orientation is to benefit most customers. “However, in surveying the market we realise that S-Fone receives a lot of attention from young customers, especially those from 20-35 years of age,” he said. “The young market has great potential and so receives much investment from S-Fone.” he said. Earlier this year S-Fone offered discounts and conducted promotional programs for school students, university students and young people in general.
Peacesoft also focuses heavily on this market segment. According to Mr Hoang, it is now working in e-commerce (chodientu.vn, ebay.chodientu.vn, 4mua.vn) and is a leading company in many other new technological directions in Vietnam, such as e-payment (nganluong.vn) and so on. “Vietnam’s younger generation accounts for quite a high rate of internet users,” he said. “Many young people are actively involved in online purchasing on chodientu.vn and ebay.vn.”
According to Ms Fong, Vietnamobile’s business objective is simple: to provide the best mobile services and help mobile phone users, including the youth segment, to explore and enjoy the best and most advanced mobile communication services. With this clear mission and objective, Vietnamobile, together with the global expertise of Hutchison Telecom and the local exposure of Hanoi Telecom, “remain committed to serving our customers here with many globally-designed, locally-flavoured services, and flexible packages that meet every specific need from this important market segment,” said Ms Fong.
The youth segment represents a long-term target, not just a short-term one. To retain market share, enterprises will no doubt have to continue to invest and change their services to stay attractive and increase user numbers. Recognising that young people are potential customers for PeaceSoft, Mr Hoang said that the company will carry out research and make suitable investment to bring maximum benefits to such customers.
Of the same opinion as Mr Hoang about the future of this market segment, Mr Van from VSMC confirmed that the company will continue to study the demands of these customers in order to provide new services on the internet and mobile phones. “To do this we are investing a great deal in building social networks on the internet with the aim of reaching tens of millions of users over next few years,” he said. “This will make it much easier for us to provide our services.”
For Mr Manh from VEGA, if enterprises want to attract many young people the most important thing is to focus on their passion for expressing their personality. But for mobile phone services, enterprises should focus more on service quality. There has been a breakthrough in mobile phone and internet use among the youth, he believes, because Vietnam’s younger generation have greater scope to access such services.
“Vietnam is in a transition period during integration into the global marketplace, so I am happy to see the confidence, smartness and eager-to-learn spirit of many young people I know or interact with. However, Vietnam is growing at a very fast speed and at times overheats. So life skills are an area that needs to be improved to catch up with rapid socio-economic growth. As a responsible partner of the younger community in Vietnam, Vietnamobile has recently worked with some universities to provide free soft-skills training to thousands of young students, focusing on life skills, and we are proud of this CSR initiative.”
Ms Elizabete Fong, CEO, Vietnamobile
“I recognise that young people can now more easily access new technology and they know a great deal about it. I work with and manage young Vietnamese people and I see their confidence and creativity, which was lacking in past generations. This represents an opportunity as well as a challenge for enterprises that want to develop their human resources. The opportunity for us is that we recruit active, confident staff and they have basic knowledge. It is challenge, meanwhile, for enterprises like S-Fone to meet their desire to work for and contribute to the company and balance the enterprises’ development orientation.”
Mr Nguyen Ba Dai, Deputy Managing Director
CDMA S-Telecom Mobile Center
Source:
VnEconomy
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