VietNamNet Bridge – It remains unclear about the fate of EVN Telecom. Previously, people talked much about if it would be taken over by Viettel or purchased by Vietnamobile. Meanwhile, VTC, a multimedia group, has recently expressed its intention to buy stakes of EVN Telecom.

Just several days ago, people firmly believed that EVN Telecom would fall into the hands of Viettel, because the military telecom company is believed to be the most powerful and suitable candidate to take over EVN Telecom. Especially, people believed that Viettel proves to be the only buyer at this moment, after FPT unexpectedly canceled the plan to buy EVN Telecom.

Meanwhile, Viettel reportedly has set up a steering committee in charge of making it ready to take over EVN Telecom.

A manager of Viettel has stated that if the government agrees on the transfer deal, Viettel will take over EVN Telecom in a whole, all the network infrastructure, the labor force, and the losses of EVN Telecom as well.

However, Viettel turns out to be not so easy to acquire EVN Telecom, since Vietnamobile and VTC both have announced their intention to buy EVN Telecom.

A source from VTC said the multimedia group is completely capable to buy EVN Telecom and it never gives up the plan. The source has also said that VTC is negotiating for purchasing 30 percent of EVN Telecom’s stake with the initial deposit sum f 130 billion dong.

However, in September 2011, EVN Telecom released a notice that the Government requested the mobile network operator to halt the equitization. At that time, VTC still sent a dispatch to the Prime Minister, expressing its aspiration to buy EVN Telecom when the company goes equitized.

Besides VTC, Vietnamobile, also a mobile network operator Vietnam, has also sent a dispatch to the government, expressing its intention to buy the 3G network which is being run by the joint name of EVN Telecom and Vietnamobile.

Most recently, on November 9, Vietnamobile sent a dispatch to the Competition Administration Department, an arm of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Competition Council and the Association for Consumers Protection, in which it pointed out the problems to be arisen if EVN Telecom is taken over by Viettel.

Vietnamobile said that if all the resources are transferred to Viettel, including the 2G and 3G frequency, Viettel alone will possess over 50 percent of the total 3G national frequency fund. As such, the waveband transfer from EVN Telecom to Viettel will break the Competition Law, because this will create favourable conditions for Viettel to become the enterprise with monopoly position on the Vietnamese telecom market.

Vietnamobile said that Viettel is now holding nearly 37 percent of the mobile network in Vietnam, and if it obtains the 3G waveband, which is now owned by EVN Telecom and Hanoi Telecom (the owner of Vietnamobile brand), Viettel will have to power to prevent its rivals from joining 3G market.

Vietnamobile has also pointed out that if EVN Telecom is transferred to Viettel, the military telecom will also be able to use all the antenna towers and tens of millions of electricity poles free of charge, while other mobile network operators now have to rent the poles for hanging cables. This also seriously violates the regulations of the Competition Law.

Hanoi Telecom has two times sent dispatches to the government, asking for the permission to buy back a half of the 3G license of EVN Telecom (Hanoi Telecom and EVN Telecom is joining forces to develop 3G services). And if the government agrees, Vietnamobile will buy the whole EVN Telecom.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh, when talking with the press on the sideline of the ongoing National Assembly’s session, has affirmed that the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), the holding company of EVN Telecom, is really trying to withdraw capital from EVN Telecom, and that EVN Telecom will be merged into another company. However, the government has not made final decision on the issue.

While Hanoi Telecom fears that the merge of EVN Telecom into Viettel would create a monopoly on the mobile telecom market, the Vietnam Post and Telecommunication Group VNPT, which is owning two well known mobile brands MobiFone and VinaPhone, has affirmed that this is a thing that occurs in many countries in the world.

According to Phan Hoang Duc, Deputy General Director of VNPT, the Chinese market is 20 times bigger than Vietnam’s, but there are only three mobile network operators. Meanwhile, there are 7 operators in the Vietnamese small market. Therefore, it is necessary to re-arrange telecom companies in order to create a healthy market.

Source: VnExpress, TBKTVN, SGTT