VietNamNet Bridge – Despite being launched almost a year ago in Viet Nam, 3G mobile telephony is developing at a sluggish rate, experts said.

Mobile operators magnify numbers of 3G subscribers

A second 3G tidal wave looms

Nguyen Thien Bang, deputy director of VinaPhone's Zone 2, told a conference on "3G applications for mobile" organised by HCM City's IT Press Club on Thursday: "3G applications are limited due to social digital infrastructure."

He was referring to poor awareness among users that precludes many services like online banking payment.

There are three service providers – VinaPhone, MobiFone, and Viettel – and they get most of their revenues from providing internet access.

"VinaPhone offers 50 services but the social infrastructure has not allowed us to develop all of them," Bang added.

However, a recent survey by mobile solutions company MSP 4U found that 3G has huge potential to develop in the country.

"In the last three years, the number of smart phones sold in Viet Nam has increased sharply and this will continue," Scott Brewer, managing director of MSP 4U, said.

The surge in mobile phone usage to 50 million and a population in which two-thirds are aged between 15 and 24 are conducive for 3G development, he said.

"To develop 3G, service providers should pay attention to content, quality of service, as well as fees," he said.

But he sounded a warning: "If providers cannot improve the payment system through mobile phones, things are unlikely to improve."

The other major factors in 3G development are distribution networks and marketing.

At the conference, the IT Press Club also announced the second ICT Press Awards which will be sponsored by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, VinaPhone, MobiFone, FPT, Viet Nam Datacommunications Company, Quang Trung Software City, and Vien Thong A.
 

* Korean firms eye local electronics, IT markets

A delegation of 14 Korean business leaders visited HCM City on Thursday to explore opportunities.

They met local counterparts at a meeting organised by the Korean Business Association in collaboration with the HCM City branch's of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The visitors head businesses in the electronics, software, and automobile-parts industries.

Viet Nam and Korea hope to increase bilateral trade to US$20 billion by 2015. In the first five months their trade was worth $5.6 billion, of which Viet Nam's exports, mainly seafood, textile, oil, and furniture, accounted for $1.1 billion.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News