If you think the growth and development of the cellphone industry in the US is speeding up, try Vietnam; apparently they’re seeing telecoms demand grow by around 30-percent each year, with rural areas beginning to lag behind cities as the infrastructure can’t scale to keep up.  Now they’re planning to launch a $200m Lockheed Martin VINASAT-I satellite of their own, to reduce the amount of leased capacity from foreign networks. 

Image credit: Reuters/Kham

“Vietnam will be more active to improve network capability and quality of telecommunication, IT and communication services and to reduce the gap between cities and rural areas” Nguyen Ba Thuoc, Vice General Director, Vietnam Posts and Telecommunication Group

The satellite, which has a life span of 15 to 20 years, will be able to handle 10,000 voice/internet/data channels simultaneously, or 120 television channels.  It’ll be launched on April 12th in French Guiana by the European space firm ArianeSpace.

Apparently almost 23-percent of the 85m population of Vietnam subscribed to internet services by the end of 2007, an increase of near 30-percent from 2006 figures.