{fwd} Internet Growth in Vietnam: Political & Economic Issues

[ianb@sun670.telecom.tandem.com (Ian Bui)]

Chao` ca? lang`, co' chi. Vanessa Hua nay` ddang lam`
research ve^` Internet implications gi` ddo' be^n VN,
ca^`n hoi? chuye^.n. Ai co' the^? tra? lo*`i ddu*o*.c
cai' gi` thi` thu* cho chi. ta du`m. Co' cai' gi` hay
dda<ng le^n dda^y cho ca? bo.n ddo.c luo^n cu~ng vui.

Thanks,
Ian

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Vanessa Hua <lochness@rescomp.Stanford.EDU>

Dear All,

My name is Vanessa Hua, and I'm a graduate student in Media Studies at
Stanford University. I am interested in examining development of the
Internet in Vietnam. Specifically, the possible social
stratification of information technology.  If any of you could offer an
opinion or information about the following issues, I'd greatly appreciate
it.

Sincerely,

Vanessa Hua
lochness@rescomp.stanford.edu

1) Given that such Internet services are currently available mostly to
foreign companies and academia -- because of the high cost involved--
coupled with the government desire to control the information flow, is it
possible that the majority of people in Vietnam could eventually be denied
the Internet?

2) Or would users find a workarounds (such as through wireless or
international direct dialing?)

3) Would price (motivated by political concerns) be a way of restricting
access? Would the highly educated populace stand for it? Is there
anything they could do about it?

4) What has impeded the development of building an Internet Gateway (rather
than forwarding messages from a server?)
        Political: The Government wants control over content
                    & holds the provider liable?
        Infrastructure: A Gateway could not be supported, given the
                        current state of equipment?
        Economic: It's too expensive? As the number of users grow,
                  wouldn't sending the messages to Australia be
                   prohibitively expensive?

5) Given the current popularity of voice messaging and cellular phones, is
it possible that the Vietnamese ITT infrastructure could be wholly wireless?
Or is the government set on building the backbone with cables?  How robust
is VareNet?

6) I've heard that DGPT (Vietnam telecom agency) has instructed VPT to
break the connection every time it detects a NetNam dial-up, in order to
make the service look poor, and thus the government can take over. Is this
a rumor? Or do you think that Vietnamese government is actively trying to
take control?

7) Corporation for Financing and Promoting Technology (FPT) (which is
under MosTE) beat out foreign competitors build Internet backbone. And
VPT continually tries to create a monopoly situation.
Will the backbone be open to all Internet service providers? Or is
the government making a determined effort to create a profitable
monopoly?

8) "Current government edicts imply that the Internet will remain off-line
until standards are set. In your opinion, how does the Ministry of
Science-Technology (MosTE)
function with the Ministry of Culture and Information Inspectorate? Do
they work in tandem? At odds?

5) Some foreign companies, such as Citicorp, have a dedicated line to
Thailand, that avoids going through the Vietnamese infrastructure. Other
firms download/upload via satellite or their own dial in service.
        Are these workarounds feasible only foreign companies? Will this
stymie foreign investment, unless an infrastructure is built?

Thank you again for looking over these questions. Any information or
referrals would be greatly appreciated.

Reply-To: Vanessa Hua <lochness@rescomp.Stanford.EDU>

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