The Ministry of Information and Communications of Vietnam confirmed that there are about 1,096,245 customers using the Mobile Money service after 4 months of trial running the program in Vietnam. The statistics showed that there are 659,237 customers from rural areas, villages, mountainous and remote areas and islands. The total transactions reached 8.4 million with a total value of VND 371 billion.
This was a significant achievement after Vietnam reported that more than 463,000 people in the country are using the Mobile Money service. The Vietnamese government has issued a new decree on the cash payment development plan for 2021-2025, replacing Decree 101/2012/ND-CP. in Vietnam, especially promoting cashless society, rural and remote areas.
Previously, the State Bank of Vietnam has just approved a trial mobile money license for major airlines such as VNPT, MobiFone and Viettel and this makes Vietnam a potential market for mobile money payment platform in Asia. In November 2021, Fitch Solutions published an article showing that MobiFone, Vietnam’s third-largest mobile operator, conducted a two-year pilot project that “allowed users to make online payments and transfer money online through their mobile account” and conducted Similarly, after the State Bank approved the license, Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) quickly announced the provision of mobile money service across the country. The Military Telecommunications Industry Group (Viettel) then announced the launch of the Viettel Money digital financial ecosystem for all of their customers using Viettel mobile networks across the country. The fact that these operators offer pilot Mobile Money services is intended to promote the cashless payments in the country. It is clear that Vietnam is now accelerating a national digital transformation for its society and citizens. According to operator VNPT, the potential of the mobile money market is huge as 60% of the Vietnamese population lives in rural or urban areas, but most companies accept non-cash payments.
The implementation will also help Vietnam accelerate the process of financial digitization so that no one is left behind in the digital age and financial services. This is an important issue to advance the Vietnamese economy, create opportunities to build the digital age in the community and promote financial services to make transactions faster and more efficient in all geographic and economic areas of the country. Vietnam is entering the digital age and one of the prerequisites for a successful digital transformation is cashless payments. Mobile money services would help close the digital divide between urban and rural areas and amid the negative impact of the Covid 19 pandemic, it will be an effective solution for the economic recovery and future development in the country.
