Sept. 4 – Local outsourcing companies in Vietnam say that the country’s poor information technology education threatens to hamper the industry’s growth.

Companies complained that even IT graduates coming from the best schools had to be retrained another 3 to 6 months because they lacked foreign language skills, math abilities and programming knowledge.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Computer Association (HCA), while the number of IT graduates increases every year the quality of training remains inadequate.

The country has a total of 390 universities, colleges and IT training centers, 43 of which just opened in the past year.

Sept. 1 - Ericsson signed the largest single contract in Vietnam—amounting to US$450 million—to develop and modernize Hanoi Telecom's nationwide mobile network today an industry journal reported.

The strategic partnership will also see Ericsson managing and operating the network under a full-scope managed services contract. Under the three-year managed services agreement, Ericsson will be responsible for the management, operation and network design of Hanoi Telecom's mobile network, including field operations and support services. Ericsson will also provide a comprehensive range of professional services, such as network deployment and systems integration.

Aug. 26 - The government will soon pass the country’s first telecom law that will allow telecom operators to buy or re-sell licenses to other companies.

According to the current draft of the telecommunications law, each license purchase must be approved by the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) to ensure competition among operators and allow foreign investors to easily enter the market.

The license buyer must take all rights and duties of the seller. “Current regulations ban telecom license purchasing, while almost nations in the world allow this to happen”, said an MIC source.