Vietnam tops mobile Net spending

A survey conducted by Yahoo! on the use of internet via smart phones and other mobile devices in Southeast Asia found that consumers in Vietnam spent on average US$24 a month accessing the internet while on the move, more than in any other country in the region.

Meanwhile, Vietnam ranks second in terms of mobile internet growth (60 per cent in 2011) behind Malaysia in Southeast Asia.

Yahoo! found that mobile net users in Vietnam were mostly males aged between 15 and 24 and that most were accessing the internet via a smart phone costing between VND2 million and VND4 million ($96-$192).

David Jeffs, from Yahoo! Southeast Asia, said mobile internet users accounted for one-third of all net users in Vietnam. He said he expected to see significant growth in mobile net use in Da Nang and Can Tho.

According to Yahoo! research, Vietnam users accessed mobile internet chiefly to chat, email and search the web, while users from other countries in Southeast Asia were mainly concerned with accessing social networking sites.

According to the Yahoo! research, Mobifone is the leading mobile service provider in Vietnam with a 60 per cent market share, followed by Viettel (26 per cent), Vinaphone (11 per cent) and Vietnamobile (1 per cent).

Nokia mobile phones are widely used to access the internet, accounting for 51 per cent of the market, followed by Samsung (16 per cent), LG (7 per cent), Apple (6 per cent), Sony Ericson (5 per cent), Q-Mobile (4 per cent) and Blackberry (3 per cent).

Yahoo! also found that consumers in Vietnam were expecting costs to go down when mobile infrastructure was improved.