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November 16, 2002

Vietnam launches Internet roaming service

HANOI (AFP) - Vietnam launched its first Internet roaming service enabling subscribers to access the world wide web from more than 150 countries.

The Vietnam Data Communications Co., one of the country's five Internet service providers, said clients accessing the web from overseas will be charged between seven and 42 US cents depending on where they are.

The state-run company is a subsidiary of the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Corp. (VNPT), the country's only Internet gateway.

"This will promote the information flow about social and economic issues and will raise the prestige of Vietnam's Internet network in the international arena," it said in a statement.

There are currently only 175,000 registered Internet users across Vietnam, but as many as one million people, using the country's 4,000-plus Internet cafes, have online access.

By 2005, eight years after the Internet was introduced to Vietnam, the number of online users is expected to climb to five percent of the country's 80 million people, according to VNPT.
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