Digital content industry grows in frog-leap
By Hien Nguyen - The Saigon Times Daily
HCMC – Vietnam’s digital content industry is developing with leaps and bounds, recording a staggering growth rates of nearly 100% in the past two years, the Ministry of Information and Communication said at the ongoing Vietnam ICT Outlook in HCMC.
Nguyen Trong Duong, head of the Department of Information Technology under the ministry, said at the event that the industry had expanded quickly in terms of both turnover and work force.
The industry obtained around US$50 million in revenue in 2005, but it doubled to US$100 million in 2006 and expanded further to US$180 million last year, he said at the expo organized by the International Data Group in Vietnam, the HCMC Computer Association and Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).
Along with increasing turnover, the number of laborers is also growing strongly, from around 25,000 in 2006 to over 32,000 last year.
Four segments that contribute the most in revenue to the digital content industry include digital content for mobile networks, games online, advertisement and content on Internet and ecommerce. The content for mobile network alone generated US$53.6 million last year.
Duong said that the digital content for mobile network saw an incredible development because Vietnam now had around 20 million active mobile phone subscribers.
Due to high profit, the mobile network content segment attracting around 100 information technology and communication firms with 3,600 laborers. Meanwhile, the game online segment is also a sweet cake with 50 companies taking part, generating the total turnover of US$45 million last year.