Vietnam to open up Internet to private service providers
HANOI - Communist Vietnam is to open up the Internet to privately-owned service providers in the government's first
overhaul of its regulatory framework since the Worldwide Web was introduced here in 1997, officials said
Monday.
By the end of the year, as many as 10 new service providers are expected to take advantage of the new
regulations which come into force September 7, industry sources told AFP.
"The big change the decree brings in is that now non-government businesses and organisations can also
become Internet service providers," said Chu Thanh Ha, deputy general director of FPT Internet, one of
Vietnam's five existing state-owned service providers.
"This will put an end to the monopoly of state-run companies and will certainly work for the benefit of users,"
she said.
Competition will only be allowed to go so far though -- the government will retain control over pricing.
The new decree will also tighten control over the relay of Internet services by subcontractors such as Internet
cafes which will be obliged to sign agreements with service providers and be liable to tax. Infringements will be
punishable by a fine of up to 330 dollars.
Vietnam still has just 120,000 Internet subscribers in a population of 79 million and the government is keen to
expand the market as part of plans to develop an information technology industry here.
Low telephone ownership has been the main barrier to development of the web -- there are still just 3.2 lines
per 100 people here and personal computer ownership is lower still.
Vietnam currently has five Internet service providers but all are run by state organizations and the authorities
continue to operate firewalls which block access to websites they find objectionable such as those of the
emigre opposition as well as pornographic sites.
The firewalls are estimated to block out as much as 30 percent of the Internet's total capacity.
State-owned utility Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corporationis still the biggest service provider with
some 60 percent of the market, while Financing and Promoting Technology (FPT) under the science and
technology ministry has captured around 30 percent.
Saigon Post and Telecommunications Service Corp has around five percent while Netnam, which launched
Vietnam's own internal web three years before the November 1997 introduction of the Internet, has just three
percent.
A fifth service provider, the army-run Vietnam Telecommunication Company (Vitel), was only granted its
operating licence last year.
The new decree also makes hacking, virus attacks on computers and use of the Internet to spread pornography
specific offences for the first time. They will be punishable by fines of between 700 and 1,300 dollars.
Agence France Presse - August 26, 2001.
Vietnam keeps lock on net access
HANOI - Vietnam's communist government has allowed all businesses, including foreign firms, to supply
Internet service but will retain its monopoly in the Internet access provision, an industry official said on Monday.
An official from the Directorate General of Posts and Telecommunications (DGPT) said firms of all economic sectors
could become Internet Service Providers (ISPs), once they obtained a DGPT license, following a government
decree issued last week.
The decree would come into effect early next month.
The official told Reuters that DGPT, which is responsible for Internet management in Vietnam, was working out
licensing procedures including conditions to license ISPs.
The official said foreign-invested firms wishing to provide Internet service should follow certain steps specified by
the decree and the law on foreign investment. They also needed to get approval from the Planning and
Investment Ministry.
However, the decree retains state control in Internet access, allowing only state-run companies or businesses in
which the state holds a majority of shares to be Internet Access Providers (IAP), or Internet Exchange Service
Providers (IXP).
"Only state-owned firms are allowed to be IAPs, and that (decision) has taken into account the Internet
development in Vietnam," the DGPT official said.
Vietnam hooked up to the Internet in 1997, but so far only about 200,000 people have subscribed because of the
high fees and slow connections.
The official said it would be illegal for subscribers to resell their Internet access. This would include owners of
coffee shops where customers -- a majority of them foreign tourists -- could receive and send e-mails and surf
the Internet, he said.
These shops would have to register with the authority to provide such businesses, he added.
The state-run Saigon Times Daily newspaper said on Monday that 10 firms would be licensed by the end of this
year to become ISPs.
Vietnam has five ISPs, four of them state-run firms and one a semi-state firm. All have to lease gateways from
the sole IAP, the state-owned Vietnam Data Communications Co.
Last month the state-run Vietnam Investment Review newspaper said a second IAP could be licensed in the next
few months.
Vietnam's strictly controlled official media has said anti-state forces were using the Internet to slander the
country, to exaggerate conflicts and to fan religious tensions.
The decree listed ranges of violations and fines. The spread of pornographic images, use or dissemination of
passwords, and private data of individuals and organizations would incur fines of up to 20 million dong ($1,336),
the Saigon Times Daily said.
Creation and spread of viruses could incur fines of up to 50 million dong ($3,340), it said.
Reuters - August 27, 2001.
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