Vietnam Delays 3G
Vietnam's Communications Ministry has officially delayed VNPT Group and Viettel Corporation - Vietnam's two largest mobile providers - licences to develop 3G networks, explaining that there is yet no granting process addressing conditions, duration and licence recall.
Nguyen Phong Nha, deputy director of MPT's Telecoms Department, said the ministry has studied how the process is conducted in other countries but has not yet decided to apply a fixed form for Vietnam. "The ministry has not yet fixed a time it will be ready for licence granting but I know that local mobile operators are ready for upgrading their network to 3G," said Nha.
The ministry considers the process "sensitive", saying that 3G is limited to a maximum three or four operators only, while there are six in Vietnam. In general, there are two ways for granting licences, through bidding and first-come-first-served. "We were assured that our proposal would be delayed after the ministry denied granting a licence last month, but we have to wait," said Le Minh Hieu, a Viettel official.
Both MobiFone and VinaPhone have tested 3G for years and had planned to offer 3G by 2007. Two CDMA operators also plan to exploit new wireless services, including the evolution-data optimised EVDO this year. The country's latest operator, Hanoi Telecom, is testing its network and plans to offer the service in the last quarter of this year, also ready for wireless services.
Viettel has said it plans to upgrade to 3G later this year for launch early next year. The service, including video call, picture messages, video message and bandwidth internet connections, will be available initially in Hanoi, Danang and HCM City. The company hopes to sign 40,000-80,000 3G customers in 2007 and 150,000-200,000 in 2008. Average revenue per unit is projected at $20-25, 53-78 per cent higher than current revenues for 2.5G. "We focus on high-qualified customers, those that have money and demand qualified value added services," said Hieu.
Cellular News - August 1st, 2006
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