VietNamNet Bridge – The number of mobile phone subscribers in Vietnam has dropped significantly as registrations for pre-paid service have been tightened, but there are still around 127 million subscribers compared to the nation’s population of more than 90 million.

The Service Economy Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment cited data of the Ministry of Information and Communications as saying that the country had had around 127 million mobile phone subscribers at the end of last year, down about ten million subscribers.

The 7.3% fall in mobile phone subscribers last year was also attributable to the strengthened management of mobile network carriers for inactive subscribers in recent years.

In addition, the Authority of Telecommunications has restricted the purchase of new SIM cards to avoid topping up and enjoying promotions offered to new users, thus reducing new inactive subscribers.

In May 2013, the number of registered mobile subscribers in Vietnam stood at almost 143 million.

3G users are forecast to keep rising in the coming years as the proportion of 3G users to mobile users in Vietnam is still small. Meanwhile, such a proportion in South Korea, Japan and other developed countries is 70-80%.

The number of landline phone subscribers continued falling by 7.8% to some 5.9 million last year. Besides, there were around one million more broadband Internet subscribers last year, raising the total number to some 10.5 million.

According to the authority, the telecom sector generated VND335 trillion in revenue, up 2.1% year-on-year, and VND56 trillion in profit, up 51.3%, and paid VND28 trillion in taxes.

SGT