Vietnam Has Second Slowest Internet Connection in Asia

Ha Noi — The Vietnamese may be one of the most globally-connected people, but they still need a faster Internet connection.

According to the latest ‘State of the Internet’ quarterly report by content delivery network, Akamai, Viet Nam continues to lag behind in broadband adoption. It has the second slowest Internet speed in Asia and globally ranks 117th, behind Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines.

The Akamai report states that the average Internet connection speed in Viet Nam is 2 Mbps while the global average Internet speeds have reached 3.9Mbps, and the highest average peak connection speed was 21.2Mbps.

“The global average connection speed continued its gradual increase heading into 2014, growing 1.8 per cent quarter over quarter to reach 3.9Mbps. Given the long-term trending seen for this metric, it is likely that the global average connection speed will finally reach, and hopefully surpass, the 4Mbps broadband threshold in the second quarter,” says the report.

South Korea emerged as the leader in the Asia pacific region with 23.6Mbps, followed by Japan and Hong Kong with 14.6Mbps and 13.3Mbps Internet speeds, respectively.

US-based Internet analyst Akamai measures broadband adoption by analysing percentage of users getting connection speeds of 4Mbps or more. The measurements published in the report are based on requests made to Akamai’s HTTP/S platform.

However, explaining the results reported by Akamai, a Vietnamese Internet expert said that the problem may lie in the measurement method. Under the method the company used, when the number of new Internet subscribers increased, the average speed would decrease.

The expert, employed by a local Internet Service Provider (ISP), and speaking on condition of anonymity, said although new subscribers in Viet Nam have increased rapidly, they rarely have international access, so the average bandwidth measured by Akamai has been decreasing.

According to the Ministry of Information and Communications, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Viet Nam earned VND15 trillion (more than $ 714 million) in revenue last year, with VND5 trillion ($ 238 million) coming from 3G network services.

Between 2009 and 2013, the number of Internet users increased by 170 per cent, and broadband availability climbed 7.5 times compared with 2005-09.

Viet Nam’s Internet penetration is at 35.6 per cent, while 40 per cent of the country’s online population is aged between 15 and 24.

The number of Internet users is expected to reach 60 million by 2018, with total revenue from Internet services and content hitting VND100 trillion ($ 4.7 billion). (PNA/VNS) LAM/EBP