VietNamNet Bridge – Despite the failure with Beeline project in the Vietnamese market, the mobile network still has some big advantages which bigger mobile networks don’t have. Meanwhile, the network covets the bigger networks’ strong points.

“Beeline” leaves Vietnam in mid-September

In April 2012, VimpelCom, one of the leading telecom service providers in the world, announced that it has sold all its shares, accounting for 49 percent of the total shares at GTEL Mobile – the company running Beeline mobile network in Vietnam.

The shares were transferred to GTEL Mobile. The buyer paid 45 million dollars in cash. GTEL Mobile, which takes over Beeline network, would have to stop using “Beeline” brand after six months.

As such, Beeline brand would disappear from the Vietnamese market from mid-September, which is nearing.

Nguyen Van Du, Deputy General Director of GTEL Mobile, said he decided to buy back VimpelCom’s shares because he believes the Vietnamese telecom market still has great potentials. He also believes that what Beeline has gained so far would be really valuable to any telecom service provider. It would be a great advantage for GTEL Mobile to inherit Beeline’s achievements.

In Vietnam, domestic telcos have been succeeding with the deep knowledge about the home market. Therefore, it is now the right time for GTEL Mobile to grab the opportunity.

Du has affirmed that the ownership changes would not affect the operation of the company and customers’ interests.

“The most important thing is that all the products provided and to be provided to customers are the products of GTEL Mobile, no matter what brand the products bear,” Du said.

“The word “Beeline” would no longer exist in our products, but the “Beeline’s spirit” would still exist,” he added.

Sources have said that GTEL Mobile is now making intensive preparations for the launching of a new brand. However, the information about the new brand remains a secret.

A thorny road for Beeline network ahead

After VimpelCom sold its stakes to stop loss and ran away from Vietnam, Beeline seems to have fallen into oblivion. Since the network operator has not launched any sales campaigns since then, customers have forgotten the brand. A lot of subscribers have said goodbye to Beeline, while new subscribers have not come.

The simcard sales agents in Hanoi have said Beeline remains the mobile network that offers the most attractive service fees, but the number of customers buying Beeline simcards has decreased.

GTEL Mobile has been warned that it would have to follow a very thorny path ahead. The market has become saturated, and it is very difficult to attract new subscribers and retain existing subscribers.

According to Mai Van Binh, General Director of MobiFone, in 2011, MobiFone sold 30 million simcards, but only 500,000 simcards, or 1.66 percent. had been retained by the end of the year.

Therefore, this would be a great challenge for GTEL Mobile to build up a new mobile network brand at this moment, when the market has become saturated.

Four years ago, Beeline became well known to all Vietnamese right after it joined the Vietnamese market with the image of a small fowl and the super-cheap BigZero service package.

Beeline became so famous that just one month after it joined the market, the three big guys on the telecom market, including Viettel, MobiFone and VinaPhone, rushed to launch sales promotion campaigns to retain their subscribers in the competition with Beeline.

According to TNS, a market survey firm, by the end of 2009, or six months after Beeline officially joined the market, the mobile network had obtained the brand recognition of up to 76 percent, higher than that of Vietnamobile and EVN Telecom.

Buu Dien