Vietnam to cut Internet and call charges HANOI - Vietnam will cut international telephone call charges by 10 percent and Internet fees by more than 20 percent, the Directorate General of Posts and Telecommunications (DGPT) said on Thursday. The new international call rates would take effect from November 1 and the lower Internet fees from October 1, the official from DGPT's Planning and Economic Department told Reuters. He said discriminatory double-pricing for foreign subscribers would be scrapped from October 1. Vietnam's high call charges and policy of charging foreigners double have antagonised overseas investors, who quit the country in droves after the late-1990s Asian crisis. Vietnam has committed to do away with discriminatory pricing of services ranging from electricity to air fares to improve its investment environment. ``We are among the first service providers in Vietnam to scrap the double-price system applied for foreigners,'' the DGPT official said. Officials of state-run Vietnam Airlines said this month foreign investors would be exempt from double-price air-tickets, but would need special certificates. The DGPT official said from October 1, Internet providers would have to pay 23 percent less for leased gateways, while new access fees for users would be cut 24 percent. Monopoly ending The cuts come amid plans by Military Electronic Telecommunications Co (Vietel) and Saigon Posts and Telecoms (Saigon Postel) to launch call services in competition with the state-run Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Corp (VNPT), which currently holds a call monopoly. Vietel is owned by the military, while Saigon Postel has a majority government stake but some private shareholding. Both firms plan to employ the Voice Over Internet Protocol, which Vietel says should allow call fee cuts of 30-50 percent, but all telecoms and Internet charges are regulated by DGPT. VNPT said on Wednesday it expects Internet subscribers to rise to one million in five years from 50,000 currently. It also forecast mobile phone users would rise from 600,000 to 2.2 million in 2005, bringing total telephone users to seven million. Vietnam currently has three million telephone lines. Vietnam has eight joint ventures with foreign firms to manufacture telecommunication products, but foreign investment in sector services is limited to financing, technology transfer and some management rights in return for revenue share. Under a trade pact signed with the United States in July and expected to be ratified next year, Hanoi committed to gradually open its market to joint-venture telecom services but these will have to lease circuits from Vietnamese operators. Reuters - September 21, 2000