Vietnam is rated as one of the largest potential markets for mobile phones in the world with the number of subscribers increasing four folds over only two and a half years.

The number of mobile phone users rose impressively from 2.7 million at the end of 2003 to more than 11 million at the end of April 2006, and is predicted by International market researchers to reach 36 million by 2010. However, the current figure represents only around 14.5 percent of the country's total population.

Ola Ree, chief representative of Norwegian telecommunication firm Telenor in Vietnam, said his company is monitoring with special interest the rapid development of Vietnam's cellular phone market. European telecom firms hope to supply equipment to Vietnamese partners through projects to upgrade switchboards and expand telephone networks.