New regulations on telecommunications support for poor households are coming soon

According to Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Bac Son, new regulations on supporting telecommunications fees for poor households and broadband infrastructure for special subjects will be implemented in 2014.

Hoa Binh is one of the disadvantaged localities that really wants the Ministry of Information and Communications to soon have a mechanism to support investment capital to develop a multi-service broadband telecommunications infrastructure, ensuring access to telecommunications services for all people through public telecommunications service points in remote, isolated and extremely disadvantaged areas. At the same time, support telecommunications service fees for poor and near-poor households, social policy families; support schools, hospitals, and local authorities to connect to telecommunications infrastructure, broadband Internet to apply IT in learning, medical treatment, and providing public administrative services to people.

There will be specific regulations on supporting telecommunication fees for poor and near-poor families. Illustrative photo. Source: Internet.

At the working session on the morning of June 9, 2014 between Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Bac Son and the delegation of Hoa Binh province, the provincial leaders said that according to the latest statistics, the whole province has 100% of communes and wards covered by mobile phones, 98% of communes and wards have BTS stations with a total of 978 stations. However, due to the complex terrain, difficulties in investing in telecommunications infrastructure, so far only 68/210 communes have broadband telecommunications infrastructure connecting to the commune center. Many people have not been able to access and enjoy high-tech services, especially people in 49 extremely disadvantaged communes and 23 communes in the Da River reservoir.

Taking note of the above proposal, Mr. Nguyen Duc Trung, Deputy Director of the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Information and Communications, said that the Department is coordinating with the Department of Financial Planning and the Public Telecommunications Service Fund to develop a draft of the Public Telecommunications Program until 2020, which includes specific regulations on capital sources, mechanisms for implementing activities to support broadband telecommunications infrastructure for localities, as well as support for prices for near-poor and poor families... It is expected that in June 2014, a document will be sent to relevant localities to collect comments.

Mr. Pham Van Dung, Director of the Public Telecommunications Fund, added: For the office connection support program, the Public Telecommunications Program will invest in equipment and infrastructure, and partially support service fees for the subjects such as district and commune People's Committees, colleges, vocational schools, and all provincial, district and commune hospitals.

According to Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Bac Son, it is expected that the Public Telecommunications Program until 2020 will be approved and implemented this year with specific regulations on price support for poor households. The broadband infrastructure support will be implemented in the form of not giving fish and fishing rods but digging ponds to help people do business and improve their lives, avoiding the repetition of the previous story of giving money and phones but people using them for other purposes. Another notable point in the implementation of the Public Telecommunications Program in the coming time is that there will be proactive participation of localities. After the investment project is approved in a locality, that locality must take part and be responsible for settlement, avoiding the situation where the Central Government invests but the locality does not know.

According to Vietnam.net