VietNamNet Bridge – The EVN Telecom commercial affair, the new law which does not allow VNPT to own two mobile networks at the same time have been cited as the most outstanding ICT events in 2011 by the Vietnam ICT Press Club.

1. EVN Telecom deal caught special attention of the public

In April, the board of directors of FPT (the Corporation for Financing and Promoting Technology) made the decision to give up the deal of purchasing EVN Telecom, explaining that FPT could not reach the agreement to acquire 60 percent of EVN Telecom’s stakes. However, people did not think that this was the actual reason behind the move.

Several months later, Hanoi Telecom, which, together with EVN Telecom, owns the license for 3G services, unexpectedly expressed the intention to buy 3G broadband of EVN Telecom.

Since EVN could not find the partners who buy stakes and it kept incurring loss, the government decided to hand over EVN Telecom to Viettel from January 1, 2012. This means that Viettel would have to deal with the loss incurred by EVN Telecom.

2. VNPT not allowed to possess two mobile networks

In April 2011, the government promulgated the decree guiding the implementation of the Telecom Law, stipulating that once an institution or individual owns more than 20 percent of stakes of a telco, it/he must not possess more than 20 percent of chartered capital or stakes of another telco operating on the same market.

This means that VNPT (the Vietnam Post and Telecommunication Group) will not be able to own both VinaPhone and MobiFone in the future.

3. A lot of .gov.vn domain names attacked

By December 2011, 329 websites with the “.gov.vn” (government agencies’ websites) had been reportedly attacked. The Vietnamese websites with the suffix “.vn”, including government’s websites bore the biggest attack wave in the period from late May 2011, to early June.

According to CMC Infosec, a security company, during that time, at least 300 big websites with the domain name of “.org.vn” and “.gov.vn” were hacked. VietNamNet online newspaper was the aiming point of a lot of attacks which led to the complete paralyze at some moments.

4. Beeline returns

In June 2011, Vimpelcom decided to replace the CEO and poured more money into the Vietnamese market to develop Beeline network after one year of taking no action. The change is a part of the strategy of turning Beeline into the fourth biggest telecom service provider in Vietnam.

The first marketing campaign was made in September, when the network launched the “billionaire” service package. Subscribers just pay 20,000 dong in order to receive 1 billion dong within 10 years and have the right to make free inner-network calls within the first 30 days.

5. AVG officially joins the “pay-TV” market

On November 11, 2011, AVG officially provided digital terrestrial television (DTT) and direct to home (DTH) service, marking a milestone in the television industry in Vietnam, when a private company officially joins the field of broadcasting. Prior to that, in August 2011, AVG set up NCC, a supervision center which allows to control and ensure the quality of television services.

AVG said it will only provide services in a large scale from January 1, 2012. The television technology of AVG is assessed by ABU (Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union) as among the most advanced technologies in the world

6. Vietnam revokes the license granted to the biggest software park

In November 2011, HCM City authorities decided to revoke the license granted before to the Thu Thiem Software Park project capitalized at 1.2 billion dollars, expected to create 40,000 jobs to workers in the construction period, and employ 70,000 engineers in the operation period.

After the opening ceremony in July 2008, the investor of the project TA Associates Vietnam has made no further progress

7. Big changes in high ranking personnel

In January, Le Ngoc Minh left his office as the General Director of MobiFone, one of the three biggest mobile networks in Vietnam, to take the office as the Chair of the company and Deputy General Director of VNPT. Mai Van Binh has become the general director of MobiFone.

In February, FPT “changed horse in the midstream” when appointing Truong Dinh Anh as the General Director of FPT, who replaced Nguyen Thanh Nam.

8. Users say Samsung Galaxy SII have many errors

In July 2009, Samsung Electronics Vietnam’s factory began its operation in Bac Ninh province. In July 2011, Samsung Galaxy SII was marketed in Vietnam. However, Vietnamese users complain that the products have too many problems

9. FPT – a technology group gets famous thanks to showbiz

FPT has become more famous in Vietnam recently thanks to some individuals of the groups. The individuals have appeared on TV shows, including the “Professor Cu Trong Xoay” portrait and the appearance of FPT Media Director Mai Thu Huyen in some television films.

10. Viettel jumps into the field of phone and computer production

In October 2011, Viettel announced it has kicked off the production line which allows to make a lot of electronics and telecom products such as mobile phones, tablet PCs, All-in-one computers, network infrastructure equipments…

Binh Minh