VietNamNet Bridge – According to Ericsson--in Vietnam, 47 percent of smart phone users download data with the phones, while the figure for popular mobile phones is 11 percent. This has prompted manufacturers to market low cost smart phone models priced at less than 2 million dong.

Michael MacDonald, Technology Director of Huawei in charge of South East Asia, said at the international Mobile Vietnam conference on October 19 that Vietnam has made a big leap over the last three years in developing 3G network.

Vietnam has built up 48,000 3G stations, while the Philippines, with the same area and population, only has 15,000.

However, the 3G efficiency in Vietnam is reportedly lower than 20 percent, lower than that in other regional countries, including the Philippines. The problem is that mobile network operators have been concentrating on developing networks, while they have not launched promotion programs to attract more users.

Another reason has been cited to explain the low 3G efficiency rate – the low popularity of smart phones in Vietnam (less than 10 percent). This has been attributed to the high prices of smart phones in Vietnam which are 30 percent higher than in Thailand.

Besides, the weak support provided in smart phone terminal devices by mobile network operators to customers has also hindered the popularization of smart phones in Vietnam.

Prior to that, at a workshop discussing the broadband development in Vietnam held on September 26, a senior executive of Viettel admitted that though Viettel has had 4.5 million mobile devices connecting with its 3G network by September 2012, the 3G efficiency remains modest, at 21 percent.

It is estimated that Viettel’s 3G users only use 200Mb in capacity every month. The executive has blamed this on the poor value added services and content services on data foundation. Therefore, 3G services have been used mostly for reading news, listening to music or chatting.

The executive went on to say that the typical service of 3G service – Video call – has not succeeded in Vietnam due to the low number of users, while network operators themselves do not concentrate on the service.

Nevertheless, Doan Quang Hoan, a senior official of the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) has affirmed that 20 percent is not a low efficiency rate in Vietnam at all.

Hoan said that when licensing 3G network operators, MIC requested enterprises to make heavy investment to ensure the large coverage and get ready in terminal devices. Since the services remain modest, it is understandable why the 3G used capacity is still low.

Low cost smart phone leads to 3G boom?

Michael MacDonald from Huawei believes that the joint forces of terminal devices, telecom infrastructure system and cloud computing would be the key to improving the 3G efficiency rate.

Experts have agreed that the higher popularity of smart phones would help encourage the development of the 3G services.

Huawei plans to launch a low cost smart phone model that it thinks fits the Vietnamese market, saying that the product would be priced less than 100 dollars, or 2 million dong.

Denis Brunetti, Deputy General Director of Ericsson Vietnam, also thinks that in order to develop 3G, Vietnam would need to have more smart phones at reasonable prices.

By that time, smart phone users would change their usage behaviors and start downloading data (video clips, apps) more than popular phone users

Meanwhile, Viettel on October 20, 2012, officially launched its smart phone model V8403 into the market which is priced at 1.5 million dong only.

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