Ericsson, one of the world’s leading mobile telecommunications companies, has markedly contributed to the development of the country’s telecom sector, said President Nguyen Minh Triet. The President made this remark while receiving Ericsson Group’s President and General Director, Carl-Henric Svanberg, in Hanoi on March 9 during his working visit to Vietnam. President Triet said that, in addition to the internal forces that are necessary to drive the country’s development, Vietnam also needs foreign investors, including Ericsson. The Vietnamese Government has worked hard to create a positive environment and to ensure opportunities for companies of all sizes to invest in the country. He stressed that attracting investment in Vietnam ’s technology and telecommunications services is an area of priority for his government, and said he hoped that the group would continue to boost cooperation and, together with its partners, improve telecommunications services in Vietnam to help those in rural areas to have access to the same technologies as in urban areas. Svanberg said that, since it arrived in Vietnam 15 years ago, Ericsson has supplied equipment and services to companies involved in the mobile phone industry in Vietnam. He said that he was impressed with the rapid development of the Vietnamese telecommunications sector, thanks to the effective policies issued by the Party and State. Just four years ago, Vietnam had just 10 million mobile phone subscribers. Since then, this figure has rocketed to the current figure of 60 million subscribers. Svanberg confirmed that Ericsson is committed to a long term presence in Vietnam, demonstrated by the fact that the number of local workers employed by the group currently stands at 500, compared to four years ago when that figure was just 50 employees. He revealed that the group has successfully begun the transfer of technology that will enable its Vietnamese partners to roll out 3G technology in the near future. (VNA) |