From September 16, telecom carriers will no longer support 2G-Only phones. Subscribers will have to replace their 2G phones with 4G phones to maintain communications. As the deadline nears, people are rushing to buy 4G phones.

Analysts note that in addition to low-cost smartphones, people also favor 4G feature phones, though the products are called ‘brick phones’ as they are relatively big and heavy. The high demand caused a shortage in the market recently.

Tran Duc Tin from The Gioi Di Dong (Mobile World), one of the biggest mobile phone retail chains in Vietnam, said that with the 2G cessation nearing, the demand for push-button phones is high and the retail chain sometimes lacks products to sell.

The Gioi Di Dong sold 500,000 of these products last August and plans to sell 350,000-500,000 this month.

Huy Nguyen from CellphoneS said the sale of 4G phones has boomed and 4G push-button phones remain the major choice of CellphoneS clients. The sales of these products in August were five times higher than previously and the current inventory at the retail chain is just high enough for one-week sale.

He said that as demand has soared, mobile phone manufacturers and distributors don’t have products in their stocks to satisfy people’s demand. However, the problem will be settled as more 4G push-button phones will arrive in early September and October.

At CellphoneS, the clients buying smartphone models of Samsung, Oppo and Xiaomi can get a subsidy of VND100,000-500,000.

Nguyen The Kha from FPT Shop confirmed that the sales of 4G push-button phones have increased sharply over the last two weeks, while sales in August increased by seven times compared with July.

In addition to 4G push-button phones, low-cost 4G smartphone sales (priced at around VND2 million) have also increased by 30-50 percent. He believes that though low-cost smartphone sales have grown more slowly than push-button feature phones, low-cost smartphones have a lot of potential in the future.

4G phones for everyone

The worries about 4G phone shortages have been lifted recently as distributors, retailers and telecom carriers have affirmed that they have enough products to provide to clients.

Since September 1, Viettel Telecom has given free 4G push-button phones to clients who use 2G phones and don’t have money to replace their phones.

The program is run in 1,700 communes with economic difficulties, and 4G phone recipients are poor and near-poor households certified by local authorities. The donated 4G phones will be provided to telecom subscribers before the 2G cessation to be sure there will be no communication interruption from September 16.

In order to receive 4G phones for free under the program, clients need to go to the nearest Viettel facility with an ID and certificate for poor households to get support. 

Viettel said since the beginning of the year, the telecom carrier has helped to change 8 million phones nationwide. In August alone, more than 3 million 2G phones were successfully replaced with 4G phones. 

In addition to the 10,000 points where clients can change 2G phones for 4G phones, placed in populous areas, Viettel has also joined forces with mobile phone retail chains such as The Gioi Di Dong and Dien May Xanh to support conversion from 2G to 4G.

With programs to help clients change 2G phones for 4G phones, Viettel’s number of 2G only subscribers has decreased from 10 million to below 2 percent of its total subscribers nationwide. It has committed to ensure communications for 100 percent clients, with no interruption.

Nguyen Viet Hoang, CEO of HMD Global in Indochina, daid that to support people’s demand for 2G phone replacement, HMD would bring to Vietnam 1 million Nokia 4G push-button feature phones. However, because of some troubles, a part of the consignment of phones will arrive after the scheduled 2G cessation on September 16. Products will be available in Vietnam from September 18-28.

According to Tin, with millions of 4G phones launched into the market by Viettel, plus phones that HMD has promised to bring to Vietnam, 4G phones won’t be lacking when 2G ceases.

“Products may arrive a little late, but there won’t be a 4G shortage for people,” Tin said.

Trong Dat