After mobile operators announced a temporary halt of scratchcard payments in the past few days, digital and online gaming businesses said they had been hit hard.

The sudden move without any warning put the businesses on the back foot, and saw a sharp drop in revenue.

Many enterprises said they might have to cut number of employees or even delay or stop projects in the future, online newspaper ICTnews reported.

Pham Quoc Thang, CEO of CMN Online, said by stopping scratchcard payment, the company’s revenue has dropped 80 per cent in recent days.

Nguyen Duc Kien, CEO of Deco Online, said that his revenue is down by 90 per cent because for small business like Deco, the main payment method is scratchcards as they do not have enough resources to develop a separate payment channel.

Many businesses in the field of digital content also said with the sudden announcement, revenue has dropped between 50 and 65 per cent and all of them worried about the future.

And now they face the prospect of no guidelines or regulations on new payment methods leaving many uncertain about what happens next.

As an alternative, many are looking at ways to connect with e-wallet businesses or set up their own payment channels.

Need a new legal payment method

Pham Quoc Thang, CEO of CMN Online, it is urgent to have a payment method which is protected by the State and suitable to the market, for businesses.

Sharing the same opinion, CEO of Deco Online also said that the businesses need a new payment method to support businesses, because products which are issued by the authorities need supports to develop.

He says if payment cards are no longer allowed, management agencies should have instructions to businesses.

“If there are no new regulations, it is necessary to have a roadmap to stop payments, sudden cuts like this don’t give businesses time to prepare,” he added.

Many other businesses also want the regulators to come up with a more flexible payment system. In addition, the system needs to be fairer between domestic and foreign enterprises.

They also fear if the authorities do not act fast, the risk of money flowing abroad is huge as businesses will use foreign payment systems from application stores. — VNS