Hanoi Times – HT Mobile, a joint venture between the US’ Hutchison group and Hanoi Telecom, on March 15 received a license to invest in e-GSM mobile network.
The firm also announced it will “send” 200,000 subscribers to S-Fone during its change of technology from CDMA to e-GSM.
Pham Ngoc Lang, Chairman of the Executive Board of Hanoi Telecom, admitted that changes in the global mobile information industry last year have adversely impacted HT Mobile’s customer care ability. The change of business direction is the best way to ensure the interest of subscribers, of the firm itself and to effectively use the state’s frequency resources.
“HT Mobile’s change of technology from CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) to GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) is force majored because HT Mobile couldn’t continue accepting losses and fail to achieve its goals,” Lang emphasized.
According to Lang, when changing technology, the initial committed investment of US$ 650 million will be maintained. Investment in infrastructure this year is planned at US$ 150 million. The change-over will take six months and the firm will maintain its 092 code.
Hutchison Telecom’s CEO Dennis Lui confirmed: “We are experienced in changing technology in many places worldwide, including in Hong Kong, so the job we are doing in
He said transmission equipment, backbone and switchboard systems will be retained. Incompatible components will be sent abroad for CDMA-based mobile networks invested in by Hutchison.
Regarding the current 200,000 subscribers of HT Mobile, Hanoi Telecom’s General Director Trinh Thi Minh Chau said there are two things they can do. They can maintain their current numbers and cell phones and use the service supplied by CDMA-based S-Fone network, or they can use e-GSM technology. In the second instance, subscribers would have to buy new phones which are compatible with e-GSM technology. HT Mobile would partly subsidize the new phones.
“But the best way is using S-Fone service,” Chau stressed.
HT Mobile joined the telecom market on January 15, 2007, using CDMA 850MHz technology. This company’s goal was to have one million subscribers in 2007 but only achieved half of that. In early January 2008, the network petitioned to change its technology from CDMA to GSM, and the government approved its request.
Experts have said that HT Mobile’s admission of its failure in choosing CDMA technology will greatly impact the two remaining CDMA mobile networks, S-Fone and EVN Telecom.
Though CDMA is not favored in
“Technology change may help HT Mobile reach its profit target but the biggest loss that this operator has to suffer is customer trust,” said an expert.
Hanoi Telecom’s General Director Trinh Thi Minh Chau also admitted: “This is a painful lesson and we hope clients will share this difficulty with us.”
She said not only Hanoi Telecom, HT Mobile’s subscribers but also the foreign partner, Hutchison, will suffer losses from this change. Hutchison believed in the future development in
