Argentina seeks to cooperate with Vietnam in telecoms and internet

Argentina wants to cooperate with the Government of Vietnam and boost Vietnamese and Argentine business cooperation to promote the development of the potential Argentine internet and telecommunications services market.

Vietnamese Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung (R) receives Argentine Government Secretary of Modernisation Andres Ibarra in Hanoi, February 20. (Photo: NDO/Pham Trung)
Vietnamese Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung (R) receives Argentine Government Secretary of Modernisation Andres Ibarra in Hanoi, February 20. (Photo: NDO/Pham Trung)

The proposal was made by Argentine Government Secretary of Modernisation Andres Ibarra during a meeting with Vietnamese Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung on February 20.

At the meeting, Secretary Andres Ibarra briefed to the host about Argentina’s telecommunications development plan, revealing that the South American nation is accelerating digitising among its related ministries, sectors and businesses, bringing high-tech (robots, IoT, blockchain ...) to their management activities.

Argentina wants to boost its telecommunications sector, especially with fixed broadband to bring internet and data services to every citizen. In Argentina there are three licenced mobile service providers nationwide. Currently, only nine million Argentinians have access to fixed broadband services and 60% of people are using mobile phones with 4G connectivity. There are still areas in remote regions that do not even have internet and telecommunications services.

Andres Ibarra said that the Argentine Government set a target for 100% of its people to get mobile and internet access in the near future. However, some Argentinian telecoms and internet companies are not capable of providing new technologies. Therefore, Argentina wants to invite Vietnamese Government and businesses to invest in the potential Argentine market.

For his part, Minister Hung said that the Vietnamese Government and telecommunications businesses are very interested in the Argentine market. The military-run telecoms giant Viettel has invested in telecommunications in Latin America, including Peru and Haiti, in which the former is its key market in the region. Viettel is the third largest mobile network operator (out of four) and has the largest optical cable system in Peru. A few years ago, Viettel had a plan to provide telecommunications services in the Argentine market.

The Vietnamese minister also shared experiences with his guest on managing telecommunications market, fixed broadband and mobile licensing, and solutions to promote mobile enterprises to cover rural and remote areas, as well as providing internet access for schools across the country.

The guest invited Minister Hung and representatives of Viettel and other Vietnamese telecommunications enterprises to visit Argentina as soon as possible to discuss the model and ways for cooperation in telecommunications.