VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) is going to collect fees for the commercial right to provide telecom services, which would charge on all telecom and Internet service providers.

Under the telecom right fee collection plan, the fee would be no more than one percent of the total revenue of telecom and Internet service providers.

Pham Hong Hai, Head of the Telecommunication Department under MIC said the ministry is consulting with the Ministry of Finance before submitting the plan to the government.

If the plan gets the nod from the government, enterprises would have to pay annual fee which is a certain percentage of the total revenue of the service providers.

Enterprises would have to pay fees even in cases where they have very low income. A floor fee level would be defined for the enterprises. Those enterprises, who do not pay fees, would have to give the licenses back to the watchdog agencies.

Hai said that the new kind of fee would force investors to think twice before making investment decisions. They need to consider the situation thoroughly and anticipate the investment costs before joining the market.

Also according to Hai, telecom right fee collection is a reasonable policy which has been applied in many countries in the world. The Singaporean government, for example, charges one percent of the revenue on the enterprises with network infrastructure, and 0.5 percent with no network infrastructure.

Malaysia collects three percent in the telecom right fee from telcos, while India charges six percent, and in Europe, telcos have to pay 0.3 percent.

Hai said though the fee level has not been defined, since MIC still needs to discuss with the Ministry of Finance, the fee would not be higher than one percent of the total revenue of the telecom services.

In fact, the most concerning matter for the management agencies is how to calculate the revenue from telecom services. At present, enterprises do not separate the income from telecom services and from other operations.

Therefore, Hai said it is highly possible that a common level would be set up for all kinds of services. The fees to be collected from enterprises would be remitted to the state budget.

Think twice before joining the market

It happens that a lot of enterprises obtained operation licenses already, but they have not provided services yet.

MIC, for example, has granted tens of licenses to Internet service providers, but only 30 percent of the licensed businesses have provided services. Others got the licenses for mobile virtual networks, but have not turned up on the market.

Most recently, MIC Deputy Minister Le Nam Thang has requested the Telecom Department to check the granted licenses and to revoke the licenses if the enterprises have not provided services prior to the deadlines.

Commenting about the intention by MIC to collect fee, observers said this would help “filtrate” the market, because only capable investors who really have business plans, would apply for licenses. The enterprises, which just attempt to obtain licenses and then “put the licenses into table drawer,” may give up the idea.

Mobile network operators have voiced their support to the idea of MIC to collect telecom right fees.

Deputy General Director of Viettel Tong Viet Trung has affirmed that collecting fee is really necessary to urge enterprises to implement their service projects.

Buu Dien