Vietnam Cuts Int'l Phone Charges

Vietnam’s largest posts and telecom firm VNPT Group will reduce international phone charges by around 20 per cent soon, local media quoted the Decision signed by the Ministry of Posts and Telecoms (MPT) as saying. 

MPT allowed the State-run Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT Group) to decrease the international phone call rate to $0.44-0.68 a minute, depending on the destination country, from the current $0.55-0.8. These calls are made via the mode of international direct dialing (IDD).

International phone calls via the mode of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) will be applied the new rates of $0.33-0.51 a minute, depending on the kind of payment - prepaid or postpaid, removing the current $0.42-0.6.

Vietnam now has 17.74 million phone subscribers, 59.3 per cent of which are mobile phone users.

Under Vietnam's IT and telecom development strategy, the country’s tele-density will reach 32-42 phones/100 residents by 2010.

The post and telecom sector reported nearly $2.7 billion revenues in 2005, up 15 per cent o year.