Mobile telecom promotions to be put under control soon

The Hanoi Times - The Ministry of Information and Communication will soon bring out regulations to govern chaotic promotions by mobile service operators that have sparked unhealthy competition among telcos, a senior official said.Pham Hong Hai, head of Telecom Department under the ministry, asserted that the ministry would issue a circular early next year to govern promotions that are going wild so as to create a corridor for healthy competition and protect the nation's digital resources being depleted.While promotion programs help telecom providers increase subscriptions by attracting users, such promotions are giving way to undercutting among service providers and increase the number of inactive subscriptions, resulting in a waste of the digital resource, Hai said."To limit negative points, the ministry is working with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to complete a new circular to manage telecom promotions. It is expected to come out early next year," he said.According to Hai, the circular will stipulate what telecom services and products are subject to promotion. In addition, it will limit the duration of promotion programs.Currently, the promotion duration for o­ne package service may last up to 90 days, and if a telecom provider launches three package services a year, it can offer a promotion campaign as long as a 270 days, thus offering lengthy benefits for users.Due to various benefits when activating a new simcard, many clients choose to buy a new simcard rather than to purchase a mobile card to replenish the currently-used mobile number, thus discarding the old o­ne and resulting in a waste of digital resource, Hai said.Asked for his opinions o­n the upcoming circular, Bui Quang Tuyen, deputy marketing director of Viettel Telecom, told the Daily o­n the phone that his company would welcome the new rule because it would create a fair and healthy competition among telcos.Agreeing with Tuyen, Le Ngoc Minh, director of MobiFone, said the new regulation would help save the digital resource."We strongly support the new policy. However, we should be clearly informed of the specific road to implement it," Minh added.While awaiting the new rule, telecom providers are still in a neck-to-neck race to bring out promotion campaigns.Three leading mobile networks, comprising the military-run Viettel Telecom, MobiFone and VinaPhone under the umbrella of the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group are offering big promotions towards the end of the year.Recently, MobiFone and VinaPhone have launched programs allowing clients to double the value of their mobile cards when purchasing a new card from mid-December to year-end, a move in nature similar to that by Viettel.Dinh Viet Hung, head of Telecom Charge of MobiFone, said that telecom providers normally launched promotions to stimulate clients demand ahead of the Lunar New Year. Up to date, Viettel, VinaPhone and MobiFone vying to be recognized the Number o­ne service provider o­n the local telecom market.Viettel declares that its network has more than 12,000 base transceiver stations nationwide and its capacity can meet demand of 50 million subscribers. Meanwhile, MobiFone says it has over 30 million subscribers.However, the General Statistics Office reported that as of October this year, the country has nearly 60 million mobile subscribers, with Viettel having 19 million subscribers, while MobiFone and VinaPhone combined have 30 million. The remaining number belong to S-Fone and EVN Telecom and some others.Vietnam now has seven licensed telecom network' providers, namely Viettel, VinaPhone, MobiFone, S-Fone, EVN Telecom, HT Mobile and Gtel, the last-named being a joint venture between Russia-based giant telecom VimpelCom and the Ministry of Public Security's Global Telecommunication Corporation, which will o­nly start operation early next year.