Vietnam will open its telecom market for foreign investors if it becomes a full member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Minister of Posts and Telecom Do Trung Ta said at a conference in Ho Chi Minh City on May 10.
The announcement was released amid telecommunications is one of five last issues in WTO talk between Vietnam and US, which is ongoing in Washington and will conclude today.
As the country joins the WTO, it will keep its pledge to deregulate the domestic telecom market, Ta said to over 200 participants at the 3rd Mobiles Vietnam 2006 Conference, which began yesterday.
Delegates at the two-day conference discussed future growth trends in regional development, establishment of trademarks, value-added mobile services, bandwidth for mobile services, 3G technology, Wimax and cheap mobile phones.
“The presence of top experts will help us to have an overview and identify the future growth areas and strategies to spur the market growth,” Ta said.
With a population of 83 million and just 14 per cent mobile phone penetration, Vietnam is a huge market for all investors, Ta said.
In the first four months of this year, the mobile market grew from 8.7 million to 11 million in addition to seven million landline telephones.
According to local experts, Vietnam’s telephone density will double its current level of 20 phones/100 residents by 2010.
However, foreign research firms predicted, that by 2010, tele-density will treble its current rate, or cover some 52 million telephone subscribers, 70 per cent of which will be mobile phone users.
Dieter Klein, vice president of Siemens AG Vietnam, said: “We have high expectations for the development of the Vietnamese mobile market. We are planning to boost our market shares in the country soon in preparation for new policy changes.”
Vietnam now has six mobile phone service providers, including VinaPhone, MobiFone, Viettel, S-Fone, Hanoi Telecom and EVN Telecom.
VNS
Vietnamese
