On the day of "Tradition of Vietnam Information and Communications Industry", many people remember the Hero of Labor in the renovation period Dang Van Than, former Director General of the General Department of Posts, who is considered the "soul" of the digital revolution in the postal industry. According to Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Phan Tam, with the spirit of daring to think, daring to do, daring to innovate and daring to take responsibility, comrade Dang Van Than and his colleagues have contributed to the breakthrough development of the domestic telecommunications industry, playing an important role in the national digital transformation and contributing to realizing the goals and aspirations for a strong Vietnam.
"Use the outside to feed the inside" strategy to break through the industry
In 1986, when the country began to enter the renovation process under the conditions of embargo and the economy was still poor and backward, comrade Dang Van Than was assigned the position of Director General of the General Department of Posts. At that time, the postal sector's facilities were lacking, the technical level was low, and revenue mainly came from newspaper distribution services and stamp sales...
Comrade Dang Van Than - former Director General of General Department of Posts
That context puts the Vietnamese telecommunications industry in front of a choice: continue using analog technology or go straight to digital technology. This choice is not simple when up to 98% of the world's fixed telephone networks are using analog technology.
Not to mention, the analog network in Vietnam at that time was still quite modern compared to other socialist countries. Therefore, it was difficult to make the decision to remove the old network and invest in technology. Especially when wanting new technology, foreign currency was required. At that time, the country had almost no foreign currency to buy equipment from capitalist countries. Then there were no conditions for bank guarantees to borrow international capital, and there was no collateral. Besides, we also had to consider how to prevent future generations from having to bear debt...
Comrade Dang Van Than was creative and daring to carry out the "digital revolution" for the postal industry.
The context puts the head of the postal industry, Dang Van Than, in a difficult position. To modernize the industry, he must convince superiors, subordinates, internal and external parties to invest in new technology. But the country is facing difficulties, and there is no foreign capital, so this is impossible. Between the desire for innovation and the difficult reality is a huge gap, requiring the leader to make choices and dare to decide.
Instead of waiting for state investment, comrade Dang Van Than and the collective leadership of the postal industry discussed and decided on the main solutions that needed to be implemented.
One is not to ask for money but to ask for a mechanism! Boldly ask the State for permission to operate under the self-borrowing, self-repaying mechanism with the State's sponsorship. Two is to boldly integrate internationally, find foreign partners, strong postal and telecommunications corporations with capital and high technology potential to cooperate; use international telecommunications as a breakthrough to attract foreign capital to serve domestic development investment. Implement the motto "take from the outside to support the inside".
With that viewpoint and solutions, the postal industry has overcome many difficulties and obstacles to bring the most modern technology, digital technology to Vietnam. Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Phan Tam commented: Mr. Ba Than's decision made many people in the industry quite worried because they thought it was risky. Because at that time, this technology was only used by about 5% of countries in the world.
Comrade Dang Van Than led the postal industry to boldly cooperate internationally.
"But history has proven that Comrade Dang Van Than's viewpoint and vision were correct and thus created the first innovation revolution in the postal industry. As a result, the Vietnamese postal industry in the years 1990 - 2000 had a rapid development, 4 times higher than the average of the Asian region, nearly 10 times higher than the world average, which was also recognized by the International Telecommunication Union" - Mr. Phan Tam affirmed.
The correctness and achievements of the above-mentioned historic decision have been recognized and highly appreciated by the Party and the State with many noble awards. In particular, the postal service is the first technical economic sector to be awarded the Gold Star Medal for its achievements as a pioneering sector, leading the way in innovation with remarkable advances in technology, services and significant contributions to socio-economic development, national construction and defense. Comrade Dang Van Than was personally awarded the title of Hero of Labor in the renovation period.
Bringing Vietnam's telecommunications to the same level as other countries
Under the leadership of the Party and the strong direction of comrade Dang Van Than, the postal sector has integrated into the international community, applying for the first time the mechanism of self-borrowing and self-repaying to create capital for development. At the same time, the sector has been sensitive to the method of collecting call charges from recipients abroad to increase foreign currency sources; proposing a number of mechanisms to quickly create capital from foreign loans guaranteed by the state and paid by the postal sector itself.
More importantly, thanks to these breakthrough policy mechanisms, the postal industry has had the resources to modernize its nationwide network, provide multiple services, advanced management, and build strong telecommunications enterprises like today.
Notable results include the General Department of Posts and Telecommunications having a business cooperation contract (BCC) with Telstra (Australia) in 1988 - a form of foreign investment never before applied in Vietnam. Then, in 1995, the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Corporation also signed a business cooperation contract with Comvik (Sweden)... By 1995, the Vietnamese telecommunications network had been completely digitized to all provinces and cities with transmission, switching, and automatic switchboard systems (while the world had digitized less than 50% of its network). Digital mobile telecommunications technology (GSM) has created an explosion of mobile information services, bringing this service to all Vietnamese people. In terms of technology, our telecommunications network is modern and on par with other countries in the region.
Deputy Minister Phan Tam analyzed that ignoring outdated technology and going straight to modern technology is a lesson in taking advantage of opportunities and advantages of latecomers to be able to develop breakthroughs. Inheriting and promoting the spirit of innovation of 30 years ago, the information and communications industry today is implementing digital transformation - the second innovation - with the motto "Infrastructure must go first and go fast, go straight to modern technology, be in the top group of the world, master technology" to promote national digital transformation, thereby having the opportunity to realize the dream of a strong and prosperous Vietnam by 2045".
"In particular, the lesson from the first innovation of the postal industry is that resources come from thinking and institutions. Thinking here is a new way of doing things, a new method. The new mechanism is new regulations, but the breakthrough experiment, which today is called a sandbox, allows the implementation of things that are difficult to accept, not widely accepted in a controlled manner, thereby unlocking resources, leading resources and bringing into life innovations and creativity that change the country. The information and communications industry today wants to successfully implement digital transformation, it needs to continue to boldly propose many sandboxes as it did in the late 1980s. Breakthrough institutions must be one step ahead" - Mr. Tam emphasized.
Innovative thinking has brought mobile information services to all people.
The lessons of the first telecommunications reform are a valuable legacy that the generation of former General Director Dang Van Than left behind and that the information and communications industry has known how to inherit and promote to new heights.
Comrade Dang Van Than (1932 - 2023) in Phuoc Long commune, Giong Trom district, Ben Tre province, in a family, hometown with a rich tradition of patriotism and revolutionary struggle. In particular, Phuoc Long commune is a heroic commune of Ben Tre land "a land of talented people". In 1966, after graduating from university in the former Soviet Union and returning to the country, he worked at the Institute of Science and Technology of Posts and Telecommunications under the General Department of Posts and Telecommunications. After the country was reunified, he was sent back to the South to work as Director of Telecommunication Center II. In 1984, he was transferred to Hanoi and held the important position of Acting Director, then General Director of the General Department of Posts and Telecommunications in 1986, Secretary of the Party Committee of the General Department of Posts and Telecommunications, Alternate member of the Central Executive Committee of the 6th Party Congress, member of the Central Executive Committee of the 7th Party Congress.
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