VietNamNet Bridge - SCTV, VTVcab, VNPT, Viettel and FPT are in competition to provide integrated services for television, internet and voice calls on the same cable line. 

 

Small cable television channels fear they will be eliminated in the fierce competition between TV and telecom enterprises.

Modern technologies allow telcos and televisions to provide services on the same transmission line. 

Instead of specific transmission lines for every kind of service, customers can use many different services, including HD TV for more than one television set and internet and voice calls.

Established as a TV service provider, SCTV, which has the highest number of TV subscribers, has jumped into the telecom field for the last two years.

Besides analog cable TV and specific digital TV service packages, SCTV now also provides integrated services of analog cable TV + internet, digital + internet, and TV + internet + fixed line.

Meanwhile, all the three telecom service providers – VNPT, Viettel and FPT – provide integrated services on a fiber optic cable. 

Thanks to the  advantage of having the transmission line, VNPT has 900,000 TV subscribers just after three years of providing television service with MyTV.

Viettel, an experienced telecom service provider, but a ‘rookie’ in the cable TV market, also tries to attract customers with attractive integrated services. 

For example, subscribers of Viettel’s optical fiber internet plus the digital cable service for two television sets, have to pay VND275,000 a month, a reasonable price.

Meanwhile, FPT, the Vietnamese largest information technology group now provides optical fiber internet + HD TV service at VND370,000 a month.

Luong Quoc Huy, deputy general director of SCT, at a recent workshop on pay-TV development, said that lowering selling prices is the worst solution in doing business. TV service providers should integrate many services on the same transmission line to be able to cut production costs and increase services.

Huy went on to say that in the time to come, more kinds of services will be integrated on the same cable line, such as OTT TV service or VOD (video on demand) to attract users.

Commenting about the competition among the five ‘big guys’, analysts said while SCTV and VTVcab have advantages of TV programs (the two now produce TV programs for more than 10 domestic TV channels), FPT, VNPT and Viettel, as telecom companies, have great advantages in transmission lines and financial capability.

The powerful financial capability allows the telecom giants to attract subscribers. 

Le Van Minh, director of Hai Duong Cable Television, said since Viettel joined the Hai Duong provincial TV market, it has launched many attractive service packages in its scramble for clients.

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