VietNamNet Bridge – The number of 3G subscribers and the average used traffic per subscribers have increased rapidly, which has made the initially designed 3G service packages become unreasonable.

The demand on the rise

A report of MobiFone, one of the 3 biggest mobile network operators, showed that the number of 3G service users still has been increasing rapidly despite the economic difficulties.

“3G service would see a boom in 2013 after it developed more slowly than predicted in the previous years,” a senior executive of MobiFone has predicted.

The rapid increase in the number of 3G subscribers has made the 3G service fee decrease sharply. The senior executive said the 3G service fee in Vietnam is cheaper by 40 times than in Europe and 10 times than in China.

Nguyen Viet Dung, Deputy Director of Viettel Telecom, has also confirmed that Viettel’s 3G users have been increasing more rapidly than ever. He said that Vietnamese have got used to the service over the last 3 years, since the day mobile network operators launched the service.

The sharp increase in the number of smart phone users has also led to the increase of 3G users.

Nguyen Son Hai from VinaPhone has agreed, saying that the 3G used capacity of VinaPhone’s subscribers has increased by 3 folds in comparison with the same period of the last year.

It’s time to design new 3G packages

Mobile network operators have all agreed that the initially service packages have become “out of date” in the new circumstances.

According to Nguyen Son Hai from VinaPhone, MAX package allowed customers to use up to 500MB of capacity at the fee of VND40,000 a month. The service package was designed when VinaPhone began providing 3G service and targeted the users who could control their expenses.

However, VinaPhone have found out that 70 percent of customers using the package have used more than the free capacity allocated to them. If they want to continue using the service, they have to register to use higher capacity at higher costs. Therefore, VinaPhone has decided to adjust the package to better satisfy the customers’ demand.

MobiFone has also said that it has launched new service packages more suitable to the customers’ taste.

Dinh Viet Hung from MobiFone said a survey has found out that 80 percent of the MIU package customers have used the capacity exceeding the traffic allocated to them. Therefore, MobiFone has increased the capacity of MIU package by 100MB.

Hung said that with the new package, in order to use the traffic equivalent to 600MB at high speed, customers would have to pay VND10,000 more. Meanwhile, with the previous MIU package, they would have to pay VND20,000-25,000 more to extend the service.

Hung said that the market has shown positive reactions to the new packages. It is estimated that MobiFone has 15,000 new 3G subscribers every day over the last month, since the day the new packages were marketed. The figure was 12,000 prior to the day of the service fee adjustment.

MAX and MIU, the basic packages of MobiFone and VinaPhone, now have the service fees equal to the MIMAX package of Viettel.

These are the three main rivals in the 3G service market now. MobiFone and VinaPhone, which both belong to the Vietnam Post and Telecommunication, have stated that they would pursue a policy of providing services at reasonable fees to compete with the military telco Viettel.

Buu Dien