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3G ready for action. |
Competition is expected to see better services and competitive prices, as Vietnam's third generation (3G) telecom services go live. Major players Viettel and VinaPhone are racing to launch competitive commercial services after initial trials.
The military telecom corporation Viettel introduced a trial 3G service in the autumn at some commercial centres and shopping malls located in Ho Chi Minh City, including Diamond Plaza, the Now Zone, the De Nhat Phan Khang Shopping Mall and Parkson Hung Vuong Plaza.
At these 3G trial service locations, Viettel's clients had a chance to learn to make video calls, mobile broadband 3G calls and messages and learn about TV mobile and video on demand usage, online music and free of charge clip services.
Viettel announced at the launch ceremony on October 10 that it would commercialise 3G services next month.
The demonstration was partially promotional to help future customers familiarise themselves with the capabilities and applications of 3G.
The supplier is anxious to show consumers the advantages of 3G technology; a lack of knowledge about the services tends to act as a barrier for telecom suppliers.
Clients of Viettel can access 3G waves in Ho Chi Minh City but mobile users can't yet use the full 3G service.
Following Viettel's demonstration, VinaPhone has decided it doesn't want to fall too far behind its rival as a 3G provider.
So, VinaPhone expects to become the country's first-to-market 3G provider, by establishing a network which also connects 2G users. VinaPhone soon expects to offer startup 3G services, including video calls, TV mobile and mobile Internet broadband access, at a reasonable cost.
The telcom announced a specific price list for mobile subscribers while other major providers are still racing to launch 3G.
In early October, the country's seventh largest mobile network, Beeline, announced it had obtained one million subscribers since beginning operations in July.
Beeline has also launched a new promotion campaign offering 19 text messages and 19 calling minutes free of charge for new subscribers.
S-Fone, a CDMA service provider, is reaching for customers by introducing new roaming services for pre-paid mobile subscribers. S-Fone says pre-paid users can access roaming services with a minimum deposit. The service has about 5 million subscribers.
from Nguyen Quoc Uy, Ho Chi Minh Office
