1. VNPT Dominates Market
The Viet Nam Post and Telecommunication Group aims to sew up 70 per cent of the domestic internet market by the end of this year, according to VNPT deputy director Bui Thien Minh.
In the first half of the year, the VNPT added 400,000 new internet subscribers and was hoping that number would rise to 1.2 million before the end of the year, Minh said.
"Since the beginning of the year, the number of ADSL subscribers has grown significantly, despite the global recession," he added.
VNPT's internet service is still regarded as the nation's best, according to a survey by PC World magazine, which finds 46 per cent of those surveyed prefer VNPT's broadband service to rivals FPT Telecom and Viettel.
The VNPT has been able to dominate the market due to its far-moredeveloped infrastructure based on its home phone network.
Second-placed Viettel has only 400,000 subsribers, equivalent to the number of subscribers VNPT was able to add in the first six months of the year. Trailing in this market was FPT Telecom, currently stalled at 330,000 subscribers, with the number of new subscribers and the number of subscribers quitting the service largely cancelling each other out last month, according to a representative of the company.
Both FPT Telecom and Viettel are confined to offering services only in the nation's major cities and unequipped to compete with VNPT nationally in offering broadband services, according to market experts.
With its significant headstart, no rival was likely to end VNPT's dominance in broadband, they said.
The company recently began providing broadband services through its affiliate, the Viet Nam Data Communications Co (VDC), under the trade name MegaVNN.
(Source: Vietnamnet)
Demand for GPRS Services on the Rise
GPRS is preferred, according to industry insiders, because with this type of network users can have mobile internet on their mobile phones, allowing them to check email, websites and download the software and services, thus bringing added value to the mobile phone.
Phone providers said that GPRS services on mobile phones accounted for a significant portion of their total revenue, whereas before the revenue was generated primarily from call services.
A MobiFone representative said the number of GPRS service users in his network doubled since last year, reaching roughly 3 million subscribers.
The same trend was seen in Viettel, said Nguyen Viet Dung, Viettel Telecom deputy director.
Dung forecast the GPRS services would further surge after mobile phone networks provide 3G service next year. With 3G, the speed to access data will be equal to that of ADSL.
Pham Ngoc Tu, deputy head of Vinaphone's business division, said in his network, there were about 2 million subscribers regularly using GPRS services.
In order to take advantage of the demand for GPRS service, mobile phone providers have so far offered unlimited charge packages in a move to attract more customers.
Recently, MobiFone introduced a package of unlimited storage for all prepaid subscribers named GPRS Unlimited. With this package, customers have to pay a fee of VND137,500 per month.
Vinaphone has also launched GPRS3 package with a charge nearly similar to that of MobiFone. Vinaphone expected that this package would be the driving force to enable its customers to use GPRS services in the future.
"If compared with the package offered by Vinaphone and MobiFone, the package GPRS unlimited D300 of Viettel is more expensive, as it costs VND300,000 per month due to its higher speed," Viettel's Dung said.
(Source: Vietnamnet)
First "Virtual" Mobile Network Gets License
VietNamNet Bridge - The Ministry of Information and Communications granted a license to the eight mobile operators in Vietnam, called Indochina, on August 19.
Different from the current seven mobile networks, Indochina is permitted to set up its network and supply mobile services without being granted with a wireless frequency. It means that this firm will have to share the available network facilities with another mobile network.
This is the eight mobile operators in the country, besides VinaPhone, MobiFone, Viettel, S-Fone, EVN Telecom, Vietnamobile and Beeline, and the first mobile virtual network operator (MVNO).
Indochina Telecom will share the 3G (third generation) network with Viettel and roam with local mobile networks that employ the GSM technology.
Indochina Telecom's Chairman Pham Danh Tu said the firm plans to offer its services in the first quarter of 2010. "The biggest challenge for Indochina Telecom is that we are the newcomer and start from zero. Even the MVNO model is a trial," Tu said.
This is a new model and an experiment in terms of policy of the Ministry of Information and Communications. "To make the trial successful, besides Indochina Telecom's efforts, we need cooperation from other businesses," Deputy Minister Le Nam Thang said at the licensing ceremony.
Previously, the government approved in principle the Multimedia Corporation (VTC) to test the MVNO model.
By mid-2009, the three largest mobile networks in Vietnam MobiFone, Viettel and VinaPhone built 26,000 base transceiver stations (BTS). The crowded density of BTS units is a waste and spoils the landscape. The development of MVNO networks is believed to take full advantage of the current BTS units.
According to a recommendation by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) the biggest advantage of the MVNO model is that the telecom network facilities are being used at its maximum capacity, which benefits both the mobile virtual network operators and mobile network operators.
(Source: Vietnamnet)
The Rise of Smart Phones
Popular smart phone brands in Vietnam are Acer, Asus, HP, Microsoft, Plam and Toshiba. Some cell phone producers have also introduced smart phone models, for example Magic of HTC, Jet of Samsung and Arena/KM900 of LG.
In the first half of 2009, at least 30 new models of smart phones were introduced in the world. Experts said that the market for handheld phones will fall this year but the market for smart phones will rise.
In Vietnam, producers haven't release many new models of cell phones, but they have released many new kinds of smart phones, such as Xperia X1 of Sony Ericsson, Touch Cruise of HTC Tempo X960, F900, DX900 and M900 of Acer, D980 of Samsung and KS 360 of LG.
The Vietnamese smart phone market was very bustling in the first half of 2009. Besides popular brands in Vietnam, BlackBerry now has an official distributor in the country, Viettel.
Notably, one reputed smart phone producer, HTC often chooses Vietnam as one of the first countries for introducing its new models.
HTC stated that at least seven smart phone models using Android operating system would be introduced in Vietnam in the second half of the year.
Meanwhile, Acer now has distributors in Vietnam.
(Source: Vietnamnet) |