VietNamNet Bridge – HCM City plans to complete the restructuring of information cable network with the total length of 3000 kilometers by 2015. However, a lot of difficulties have arisen, which may make the goal unattainable.

Power companies mistakenly cut telecom cables

Nguyen Anh Tuan, Deputy Director of the HCM City Department for Information and Communication, said at a working session with the HCM City People’s Committee recently that in the first six months of 2011, telcos finished the restructuring of telecom cables on 13,916 electricity poles with the total length of 353 kilometers. It is expected that in the last six months of the year, the restructuring of the 631 kilometers in length of cables would be completed on 446 roads.

However, everyone understands well that the plan proves to be too ambitious, because there have been too many difficulties which have slowed down the process.

The representative from Viettel, one of the three biggest telecom companies in Vietnam, said that the company is trying to make telecom cables subterraneous on 29 roads in the city which belong to districts 3, 5, 6, 12, Tan Binh and Binh Tan. However, 50 percent of the roads are the ones, where the digging is prohibited.

The executive also complained that it regularly happens that power companies mistakenly cut the telecom cables, which has caused the loss of billions of dong to telcos.

According to FPT Telecom, in the first seven months of 2011, the mistakes by power companies led to the disconnection of 30,000 of its subscribers. In the first half of the year, the company had to spend two billion dong to restore the cables in the plan to restructure the telecom cables together with the electricity poles.

At a recent meeting with the HCM City authorities, the Vietnam Post and Telecommunication Group (VNPT) also complained that it had to spend 0.5 billion dong to fix the troubles arisen during the cable restructuring. Viettel has declined to give the accurate figure about the loss it has suffered, but affirmed that it has suffered heavily due to the mistakes.

A lot of other problems have been cited, including the complicated execution techniques and the high costs of the process of putting the telecom cables under the ground. To date, there has been no unit price for the leased infrastructure that serves the process. Meanwhile, companies lack money for the investment, which has resulted in the resumption of the once existing “cobweb” of cables.

Cooperation among involved agencies needed

Telcos have called on the HCM City authorities to help settle the existing problems in order to restructure the telecom cable network by 2015 as planned.

They have urged the city to draw up a regulation on the cooperation of involved agencies to push up the process of putting cables under the ground, especially the regulation on the common use of the underground cables and electricity poles.

Also, the city needs to set up the prices for leasing infrastructure and apply the mechanism that encourages enterprises to join the process of putting cables under the ground, and set up the units in charge of the common infrastructure management.

In fact, the HCM City People’s Committee has assigned the Department of Industry and Trade to rewrite the regulations on the common use of poles in the city, including electricity, lightening and telecom cable poles. The city’s authorities have also agreed to allow the communication department to work directly with relevant branches to grant licenses on digging roads and restoring roads. The new policy has helped eased the administrative procedures and speed up the restructuring

Hanoi has also kicked off the plan to make telecom cables subterraneous, striving to become a “wireless city” by 2015.

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