Vietnam had issued over 6.5 million public digital certificates this year as of the end of October, a 18.32 per cent increase year-on-year, the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) has announced.

In October, there were nearly 2.25 million active public digital certificates, a rise of 21.2 per cent compared to October last year.

Fees collected since the beginning of the year as of October 22 reached over VND40 billion ($1.6 million). It is expected that the total for 2023 will reach VND53,3 billion ($2.17 million), contributing around VND8 billion (over $326,000) to the State budget.

MoIC has so far granted licenses to 25 organizations providing public digital signature certification services.

In the 2018-2023 period, the number of businesses in Vietnam providing public digital signature authentication services saw remarkable growth, demonstrating the potential for the development of the market.

As of the end of 2022, there were nearly 1.96 million active public digital certificates around the country, including more than 1.55 million certificates of businesses and organizations, while the remainder were personal certificates.