People in Bac Ha Mountain district have been subsidized smart phones and fees  under the VNPT’s public telecommunications services. (Photo: VOV)

Ly Seo Senh of Ban Pho 2 hamlet is one of the beneficiaries of the public telecommunications program of the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT).

“I can find lots of useful information on the Internet. If your plants suffer from a strange disease, you can take a photo and post it on the Internet or find out in which month you should fertilize your crop. These things are very useful,” said Senh.

Ban Pho commune has 800 households with more than 4,000 people, 97% of them of Mong ethnicity. 80% of the households in the commune are poor.

Le Tien Tung, Chairman of the communal People's Committee, said the VNPT’s public telecommunications policy has benefited 150 poor households in Lao Cai.  

Tung affirmed, “It is a more convenient way for the local administration to disseminate new policies and tasks to the hamlets and the villagers get the information more quickly. Management has become easier, thanks to team apps on social networks.”

Bac Ha is one of the poorest districts in Lao Cai province, where ethnic minorities account for 84% of the population. Rough terrain, difficult roads, and scattered hamlets all contribute to the high poverty rate.

Representatives of the VNPT Lao Cai present gifts to poor people. (Photo: VOV)

Bac Ha authorities, in coordination with telecommunications service providers, have deployed the public telecommunications program from which 3,000 of the 9,000 poor households in the district have already benefitted.

Nguyen Duy Hoa, Secretary of the Bac Ha district Party Committee, said that now that people can connect to the Internet, many households are using social networks to market their agricultural products and attract more tourists.

According to Hoa, “The public telecommunications program has helped Bac Ha district implement digital transformation, one key to poverty reduction. The recent support of VNPT Lao Cai has boosted the district’s digital transformation.”

VNPT Lao Cai has begun to make incentive packages available to poor households in remote areas.

Dau Ai Loan, Sales Director of VNPT Lao Cai, said 23,500 households have benefitted from these incentives, adding, “This is a national task. We have mobilized all our resources to implement it. We know that if people in remote areas can access the Internet, it will improve their lives.”