The Hanoi Times - Golden 3G licences are likely to be given to MobiFone, VinaPhone, Viettel and a
The Saigon Postel-EVN Telecom alliance has been consolidated by a memorandum of understanding recently signed between the two sides, to guarantee the two parties get a highly sought-after licence.
“It will be nothing if we don’t have a 3G licence,” said a EVN Telecom official. This alliance makes them stronger than Hanoi Telecom and G-Tel which are still developing their networks. The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) invited seven operators to participate in the 3G contest with four licences expected to be granted in April, 2009. The criteria for licences are to have financial strength and a fast 3G service roll-out plan.
EVN Telecom wants to secure large market share of fixed wireless telephone and 3G services and it goes half way of its strategy to become a significant supplier of fixed wireless telephone services. The MIC ranked EVN Telecom the biggest fixed wireless telephone operator. EVN Telecom held an 18 per cent fixed telephone subscriber market share as of October, this year behind VNPT with 72 per cent.
EVN Telecom has its strong international leased circuits capability, holding the largest market share of 54 per cent in terms of revenue in 2007. It has just connected successfully to Hutchison’s internet protocol virtual private network in
Meanwhile, Saigon Postel has selected Singtel as a partner to support its 3G service deployment process. Its partner in the business cooperation contract for S-Fone network, SK Telecom, is also preparing its plan to support Saigon Postel in deploying services.
Other operators such as VinaPhone, MobiFone and Viettel have shown their capability for a 3G licence. Of which, MobiFone selected a German company as its consultant for the 3G contest and has cooperated with France Telecom to enhance its network efficiency and deploy services. The two sides also joined to run 3G service demos in
“We will cooperate with MobiFone team to run demos of some 3G services on multi-gaming and photos applications. It is preparation to show our capability in technology knowledge and services experience to chase for our target to become a strategic partner of MobiFone operator,” said Jean-Pierre Achouche, France Telecom country director in
Viettel has yet to reveal its foreign partner in writing and roll-out service plans. However, it is still the country’s biggest mobile operator with 40 per cent market share in terms of the number of mobile subscribers by May.
