VietNamNet Bridge – The existence of OTT (over-the-top) services has taken the bread of mobile network operators’ mouth. Meanwhile, the network operators still cannot find out what they need to do to retain the bread. Blocking OTT services is not a good idea.

The story of Viettel

Rumor has spread out on IT forums in recent days that the military telecom group Viettel has intercepted Viber, an OTT app that allows to make calls and send messages free of charge via Internet.

A lot of smart phone users complained that Viber suddenly “became moody” which made the connections interrupted. It takes much time to send messages, while conversations were regularly interrupted. And Viettel has been blamed on this.

The representative of Viettel has immediately denied the interception, affirming that Viettel never thinks of doing this.

“Viettel does not take the actions of blocking the VoIP apps such as Skype, Viber or Whataspp,” he said.

The representative also informed Viettel has checked its subscribers and found out that Viettel’s subscribers still can use Viber as usual.

Viettel believes that the OTT apps that allow to make calls and send messages via Internet have their big advantages, but they have some inferiorities to traditional conversations. Both the callers and the receivers have to access to Internet, while they both have to install the same software pieces, which sometimes makes it inconvenient to users.

Viettel affirmed that the better quality of traditional conversation, which is the reason why it does not feel worried about the existence of the smart phone apps.

However, despite the explanations, Vietnamese smart phone users still said Viettel has the motive for the action of blocking Viber.

Especially, the smart phone users’ failure in using Viber in making calls and sending messages took place just several days after a Viettel’s senior executive admitted that OTT apps have badly affected the network operator’s business, and that the telco plans to increase the 3G service fees.

How to deal with OTT apps?

“Any actions of intercepting the things which can bring benefits to the society would go contrary to the development laws. Meanwhile, OTT apps have been favored by the youth and widely used,” said Nguyen Van Tuan, E-commerce Director of VCCorp.

“If it is true that the network operator tried to block the app, it should rethink its behavior. Instead of doing this, it’d be better to think of the measures to exploit the OTT apps,” he added.

Dr. Nguyen Vuong Quoc Thinh from France Telecom – Orange said the idea of prohibiting OTT services on mobile Internet base in Vietnam would be unfeasible and it would not be the solution mobile network operators want.

In principle, mobile network operators have the right to refuse to allow OTT apps to run on their networks. However, if they do this, they would see their clients running away.

Also according to the expert, it is a trend in the world that network operators “live together” with OTT services, and Vietnam should not go contrary to the trend. Instead of confronting OTT apps, it would be better for network operators to cooperate with OTT developers for mutual benefits

In South Korea, for example, some network operators have created the funds for developing the apps and digital content services on mobile devices.

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