The information and communications ministry has appointed the Viet Nam Public-Utility Telecommunication Service Fund as the investor of the project, which will provide digital television set-top boxes to households.
The fund expects to complete the bidding process by April this year and install set-top boxes for 454,000 households that will be affected when Ha Noi, Hai Phong, Can Tho and HCM City switch off analogue signals.
According to new criteria decided by the government, an income of VND700,000 (US$31) per person per month in rural areas and VND900,000 ($40) per person per month in cities determines a household's poverty status.
Meanwhile, an income of VND1 million ($45) per person per month in rural areas and VND1.3 million ($58) per person per month in cities determines the near-poor status of a household.
According to the road map for switching off analogue signals, nine channels will be switched off in Ha Noi, Can Tho and HCM City from the beginning of March.
In addition, for continuous and effective communication of digitalisation plans to residents of the four above-mentioned cities and 19 neighbouring provinces, the assistance sub-committee asked related agencies to quickly submit plans to the ministry to enforce them in the near future.
Previously, many communication channels such as SMS and video clips and audio clips on television and radio were used, when analogue signals were switched off in a pilot project in the central Da Nang Province.
