Ensuring people in disadvantaged areas, mountainous areas, and ethnic minorities have equal access to digital technology

Speaking at the discussion group on the Law on Digital Transformation, delegates paid much attention to issues related to the development of digital infrastructure in disadvantaged, remote and isolated areas; creating conditions for ethnic minorities to have equal access to digital technology...

To give the disadvantaged equal access to digital technology

Commenting on the draft Law on Digital Transformation, delegate Chu Thi Hong Thai ( Lang Son delegation) highly appreciated the draft Law and said that this will be the legal basis to create a unified legal framework, helping to promote the digital transformation process in the operations of state agencies and the whole society in general; especially shortening the digital gap in mountainous areas, remote areas, islands, border areas...

Delegate Hong Thai said that through research, the draft Law stipulates many contents related to the development of digital infrastructure, including public digital infrastructure, but there is no specific content mentioning the development of digital infrastructure in mountainous areas, remote areas, and ethnic minority areas. Therefore, the delegate suggested that the draft Law should provide specific regulations on prioritizing the development of digital infrastructure in remote areas, and disadvantaged areas ; especially creating favorable conditions and opportunities for people who have difficulty accessing online public services, digital education , remote digital health, etc.

"However, this priority content must also stipulate and clarify the support mechanism, minimum coverage targets, and responsibilities of relevant agencies. This content has been raised by delegates at many meetings, and has received comments from many delegates in localities, but has not yet been resolved. I propose to add the responsibility of the agency responsible for implementing digital transformation . At the same time, there should be a mechanism to support tax credit capital and require telecommunications enterprises to share infrastructure, ensuring minimum coverage; assign the Government a roadmap for building telecommunications infrastructure in these areas to ensure that people in disadvantaged areas have equal access to broadband and essential services."

If digital infrastructure is not developed in mountainous and remote areas, the digital gap between the plains and the mountains will become wider and wider. Illustrative photo

The delegate added that the Law also needs to stipulate that disadvantaged groups, as well as other groups, have equal access to digital technology . However, if we do not develop digital infrastructure in mountainous and remote areas, the digital gap between the plains and the mountains will become wider and wider.

"Therefore, I propose that there must be regulations for the development of digital infrastructure in disadvantaged areas, mountainous areas, and remote areas," delegate Chu Thi Hong Thai emphasized.

Specific regulations are needed to narrow the digital gap between regions.

Speaking at the discussion in Group 6, Delegate Pham Trong Nghia (Lang Son Province National Assembly Delegation) pointed out many impressive results that Vietnam has achieved in the field of digital technology. That is, we have 3 pillars including Digital Government, Digital Economy and Digital Infrastructure. According to the results of the e-Government Development Index in the 2024 rankings, Vietnam ranked 71/193 United Nations member countries, up 15 places compared to 2022. In the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2024 report published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Vietnam ranked 44/133 countries, up 2 places compared to 2023. By the end of 2024, we will have 82.4 million households using fiber optic cable. The commercial deployment of 5G by major carriers has helped increase Internet connection speed, facilitating the application of information technology among the people.

However, according to the delegates, our digital transformation tools still face many institutional challenges as well as the disparity in digital infrastructure between regions, especially between urban and rural areas, between lowland and mountainous areas. Limited digital infrastructure will seriously hinder access to digital services, especially online public services and activities related to education and telemedicine - benefits associated with people's social security.

Delegate Pham Trong Nghia speaks at the discussion at Group 6, afternoon of November 6

"Our infrastructure still has low signal points or areas without national grid electricity and sparse population. While big cities like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang... invest heavily in 5G and cloud computing data centers, many mountainous provinces and remote areas still face very poor internet connection, instability, lack of equipment, lack of infrastructure, outdated infrastructure; some border communes still do not have strong enough mobile transceiver stations... In places like that, how can we find ways for people to access digital technology?", the delegate commented.

Affirming that the difference in digital gap and the ability to access digital infrastructure, digital technology equipment, digital skills and services... is the cause of the difference in access opportunities and effectiveness of national digital transformation, delegate Pham Trong Nghia suggested that the agency in charge of drafting the Digital Transformation Law project needs to supplement State policies and specific regulations to narrow the digital gap . Because when we apply information technology, the stronger the digital transformation, the further the gap in people's access to public services and other social services will be.

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/dam-bao-nguoi-dan-vung-kho-khan-mien-nui-dan-toc-thieu-so-duoc-tiep-can-binh-dang-voi-cong-nghe-so-20251106165653529.htm