Major operators of mobile phone networks in Vietnam have sent a proposal of tariff reduction to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications after a long period of using special promotions as a way to cut fees.
The State-run Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT Group), which administered the country’s two largest mobile phone networks VinaPhone and MobiFone, said Tuesday the group proposed the fee reduction plan to the ministry for approval.
Within the proposed reductions, VinaPhone and MobiFone, which are operated by GPC and VMS, respectively, will reduce charges of their packages from 3% to 23%.
Postpaid call charge will be lowered to VND1,200 a minute from the current VND1,600 and prepaid rate is reduced to VND1,900 a minute from the current VND2,600.
The call charge imposed on daily subscriptions to the two networks will slash to VND1,300 a minute from the current VND1,800.
“We expect to apply new billing methods from early May,” a VNPT Group official said.
VNPT Group also wants to apply 6+1 second billing mechanism, in which call charge count will begin with the first six second block and then second-by-second block.
The VNPT Group also asked the ministry to let enterprises decide their service charges based on market demand.
The VNPT official said the protection of new businesses by preventing businesses with lion’s market shares from cutting rates should be stopped.
New mobile phone operators such as Viettel Mobile have now matured and are powerful enough to face the market, he explained.
Following the VNPT Group-presented plan on fee reductions, the military-run Viettel proposed their new charge plan.
Viettel plans six-second plus one block charges for all services including voice over Internet Protocol or VOIP 178, landline phone and mobile phone.
In principle, the Viettel would introduce more aggressive rate reductions to compete with their rivals.
The four largest mobile phone network S-Fone, which uses CDMA technology, has applied 6+1 second billing system from April 14.
Vietnam now has more than nine million mobile phone subscribers, including VinaPhone’s 3.87 million subscribers, MobiFone’s 3.44 million, Viettel’s two million plus and S-Fone’s 400,000 plus.
Young People
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