‘Vietnam is the fastest growing digital economy in the region’

At the Digital Summit Hanoi 2026 conference co-organized by Viettel and GSMA on the morning of May 26, Mr. Julian Gorman, Asia-Pacific Regional Director of GSMA, announced data on the growth of Vietnam’s digital economy.

Specifically, Vietnam ranks in the first half of the Digital Nations Index 2025. According to the association, Vietnam’s digital economy contributes 18.3% to GDP in 2024 and is “on track” to achieve the target of over 20.5%.

In the last three years, Vietnam was scored by GSMA as the digital economy with the fastest growth rate in the region and achieved this progress on a national scale with a population of more than 100 million people. According to Mr. Gorman, Vietnam shows balanced development across all five key pillars of the index, including: infrastructure, innovation, data management, cybersecurity and people.

Ms. Jeanette Whyte, Director of Public Policy and Foreign Affairs, APAC region of GSMA, mentioned some policy highlights in Vietnam recently such as Resolution 57 on breakthrough development of science, technology, innovation and national digital transformation; a number of events such as 5G frequency auctions, increasing 5G network coverage and quality in a short time, promoting digital inclusion, while maintaining user protection elements in the network environment.

Assessing this result, the association representative said that Vietnam’s success is “the result of proactive and calculated policy choices instead of luck”. This reflects a clear shift from “digital adaptation” to “strategic nation building”.

“Vietnam is on the path to becoming the second largest digital economy in ASEAN by 2030,” a GSMA representative affirmed. At the world’s largest mobile event, MWC 2026, held earlier this year, Vietnam was also honored with a government leadership award – this organization’s highest honor for digital policies.

However, according to GSMA, there are still many challenges to developing the digital economy in Vietnam. To build on current success and sustain growth, the association recommends two priorities for Vietnam’s next phase, including enhancing trust and cybersecurity, expanding digital capabilities and advanced AI.

“Maintaining digital growth will depend on maintaining trust in digital services. This requires close and immediate coordination between telecommunications operators, financial institutions and state management agencies to prevent fraudulent acts and protect consumers,” said a GSMA representative.

In addition, Mr. Julian Gorman commented that Vietnam’s foundation in universalizing community-based digital skills will be a launching pad for the next stage of capacity development, ensuring the workforce can meet high-value industries and maintain a competitive advantage in the context of the accelerating pace of technology application.

“Vietnam’s strongest differentiator is its focus on the human factor. Digital inclusion is being implemented not as a complementary social issue, but as a core economic strategy,” Mr. Gorman recommended, saying that expanding the scale of advanced digital skills and AI capabilities will be the next key step, taking advantage of existing platforms.

At the conference, representatives of a number of telecommunications companies in Vietnam also introduced initiatives on new generation telecommunications infrastructure, AI-Native networks, protecting digital trust and new generation digital services based on 5G; the impact of AI on telecommunications networks, as well as protecting users, data and maintaining trust in large-scale digital services.