HANOI, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Vietnamese government has extended the pilot use of telecom payment accounts for small-value goods and services until Dec. 31, 2024, Vietnam News Agency reported Tuesday.
Vietnam started the two-year service pilot nationwide on March 9, 2021.
The service allows customers to use their telecom accounts to conduct various transactions, including payment for small-value goods and services, money transfer, direct deposit, and withdrawal at outlets and transaction points of telecom providers throughout the country, without requiring a bank account, a smartphone, or an Internet connection.
There were more than 3.9 million mobile money service clients in Vietnam as of early May 2023, tripling the figure for the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications.
Among them, 2.7 million or 69 percent of users are in rural, remote and mountainous areas.
According to the State Bank of Vietnam, cashless payment in Vietnam has risen in terms of both number and value.
In the first eight months of 2023, cashless payment recorded 6.85 billion transactions worth 138.3 quadrillion Vietnamese dong (5.7 trillion U.S. dollars) with online payment up 372.91 percent in turnover and 110.97 percent in value year on year, mobile payment up 598.27 percent in turnover and 382.22 percent in value, QR code payment up 871.82 percent in turnover and 761.93 percent in value.
The Vietnamese government aimed to reduce cash payments from 11.3 percent in 2019 to 8 percent by 2025. ■