Nearly 2,000 public internet access points set up

Up to 1,900 public internet access points have been set up in 40 provinces and cities nationwide, according to a latest report of the project on improving computer usage and public internet access ability in Vietnam.

Illustration photo (Photo: Thai Thien)

The project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, also installed more than 12,000 sets of computers along with building three regional training centres and provincial training centres.

Nguyen Thanh Hung, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications, said that the project has assisted rural residents with necessary skills to get information for their production and business, improving their standard of living.

The project also helped narrow the development gap between rural and urban areas, contributing to the country’s national target programme on building new-style rural areas, Hung added.

The statistics showed that 62.29 percent of the people in the targeted provinces and cities had access to the internet to seek information on agricultural production to for household economic development. Female users account for 44 percent while 20 percent are the ethnic minority.

The project is being carried in five years from 2011 with a total capital of 50.5 million USD.

(Source: VNA)