Vietnam`s mobile phone market booms
HANOI - A 30-square meter mobile phone shop in Bach Mai street in Vietnam`s Hanoi capital seemed smaller when dozens of customers came in. Some of them were gluing their eyes on luxurious cell phones in lightened glass cabinets, while some others were busy asking about the phones` prices or functions.
"More and more people are using mobile phones, so we have bigger earnings," the shop owner Nguyen Thi Nhung boasted, adding that she intended to open one more shop in Ton Duc Thang street.
With the shop`s benefit of 30 million Vietnamese dong (VND) ( nearly 1,900 US dollars) per month, Nhung, who graduated from the Hanoi Law University five years ago, seemed to have given up seeking a job suitable with her major, to follow mobile phone business.
Mobile phone shops like Nhung`s are mushrooming in the city.
Along the two-kilometer street of Bach Mai, there are more than a dozen of mobile phone shops vying for luring customers by giving attractive prices and trade promotions.
Cell phones have become a vital device for modern, every day living of many local people. Local cell phone traders are expected to sell 2 million new handsets this year, compared to 1.6 million last year.
The number of mobile phone users in Vietnam with population of over 82 million, which now stands at 5.3 million, is expected to increase to 7.3 million by the end of this year and 21.2 million in late 2008, said the country`s largest telecommunications firm, the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (VNPT).
The increasing mobile phone subscribers in Vietnam are partly attributed to falling prices of products and services, rising affluence of local residents, and more value-added services such as games and music.
"New mobile phone models are launched frequently, while their prices are falling. With only 3 million Vietnamese dong (VND) ( nearly 190 dollars), I can own a Nokia handset with music, games and video functions that I only dreamed of in the past," student Nguyen Viet Hung said.
Local customers now have more chances to choose products, as the market is flooded with cell phones of some 20 manufacturers such as Nokia, Samsung, Sony-Ericsson, and Motorola, and those illegally imported, mainly from neighboring countries. The producers frequently launch attractive models to snap up new customers. Currently, there are more than 200 models available in the country.
Many Vietnamese people choose genuine products branded Nokia and Samsung. The two firms dominated the local market with their combined market share of 85 percent last year.
Luxurious phones with colorful screen, hi-fi tone, and video functions win most Vietnamese consumers. A recent survey conducted in Ho Chi Minh City showed that mobile phones with prices of 3-4 million VND (190-255 dollars), which accounted for 30 percent of the city`s market share, were best sellers.
Not only producers, but also service providers, including Vinaphone, MobiFone, S-Fone and Viettel, are fighting for a bigger slice of the hugely promising cell phone market. The military- owned Viettel allows subscribers to choose special phone numbers.
Meanwhile, S-Fone, the country`s first mobile phone network using Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology to ensure greater security and faster transmission, is trying to improve its business by offering handsets to its customers. S-Fone also plans to invest 300 million dollars in upgrading its network coverage in the next two years.
In addition to improving quality service and offering more promotions, the providers diversify payment modes and frequently lower fees to attract more customers. All of the providers are now applying modes of monthly post-paid and pre-paid services.
With the development pace, Vietnam has become one of the Asia`s fastest growing mobile phone markets, with the industry`s average annual growth rate of 47.8 percent in the 2001-2004 period, according to VNPT.
Angola Press - June 24, 2005.
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