Mobilephone users leap 21.9%

Viet Nam’s telecommunications market is expected to develop rapidly in the upcoming months.

The number of new mobile phone subscribers last month reached 18.5 million, an increase of 21.9 per cent over the same period last year.

The development, in part, has intensified due to the advent of new services provided by mobile phone suppliers.

Last month, Viet Nam Post and Telecommunications Corporation (VNPT) signed a contract to be the sole broadcaster of the World Cup 2010 for mobile phones.

All 64 football matches can now be directly viewed through Mobile Television, a subsidiary of VNPT’s MobiFone and VinaPhone providers, for VND30,000 (US$1.6).

Head of Vinaphone’s Marketing Department Pham Ngoc Tu said the providers planned to add more than 60 value-added services for mobile phone subscribers, which aims to increase the provider’s service quality.

Tu said the services account for 10 per cent of their total revenue, but predicted they would eventually increase to 20 per cent of the company’s revenue.

S-Fone has announced that it will expand its coverage of 3G-EVDO services to 37 cities and provinces nationwide.

The provider added that it would invest in upgrading the 3G-EVDO in order to ensure the quality of its 3G service and prepare for the arrival of 4G.

Vietnamese mobile phone providers have been rushing to reduce Iphone prices in line with the decreasing prices of the product in the US.

Providers will begin to reduce the phone’s price from $197 to $100 each.

Last Tuesday, the military-run mobile phone provider, Viettel, reduced the price of its Iphone to VND1 million ($54) in order to increase phone sales.

VinaPhone’s representative Nguyen Thu Hong said the provider had yet to consider reducing the price of its Iphone package.

She said the company had imported approximately 5,000 Iphones and planned to import more soon.

MobiFone, one of the three largest mobile phone providers in the country, does not sell the Iphone. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam Mobile subscribers, Vietnam Telecom