Pricing battle escalates in Vietnam
Vietnam's telecom battle peaked again with simultaneous price-cutting announcements from rivals Vinaphone and Viettel. Both providers announced tariff reductions effective next month.
The nation's largest mobile carrier Vinaphone said will cut monthly subscription charges to 66,000 dong ($4) from 80,000 dong ($5) for post-paid users.
The carrier also reduced daily subscription rates for pre-paid users to 1,700 dong ($0.11) from 2,000 dong ($0.12).
The State-owned firm Vinaphone said the new billing increments will reduce phone bills by an average of 10%, in turn resulting in a 10% depreciation of company profits. Vinaphone has not publicly disclosed its targeted turnover for the year.
The military-run Viettel meanwhile said it would entrench its 'lowest price policy' by cutting monthly subscription charges to 59,000 dong ($3.7) from 69,000 dong ($4.3) and daily subscription charges to 1,490 dong ($0.09) from 1,590 dong ($0.10).
In a written statement, the country's third-largest mobile carrier said "Viettel will always remain the cheapest mobile network in the market with 10%-15% cheaper tariff rates than other networks.” Viettel already bills customers in increments of 6 seconds.
Asia Pulse - October 03, 2005.
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