VietNamNet Bridge – It’s still unclear if the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group VNPT would equitize or merge the two mobile networks VinaPhone and MobiFone.

VNPT plans to submit to the Ministry of Information and Communication the plan to restructure the economic group in February 2012, which would be then submitted to the government in the first quarter of the year.

The restructuring plan would comprise many issues, but the biggest question to every one is how VNPT would deal with VinaPhone and MobiFone, the two big mobile networks and big bread earners for the group.

Under the Telecommunication Law, VNPT will not be able to possess two big mobile networks at the same time. Therefore, it will have to either to merge the two networks into one bigger, or equitize one of the two networks to come in line with the law. However, what VNPT will do remains an unknown, which has made people make a wild guess over it.

At the conference reviewing the implementation of the tasks in 2011, Vu Tuan Hung, General Director of VNPT, announced some key points of the restructuring plan. However, he did not mention the most important issue – the merger and equitization of VinaPhone and MobiFone.

According to Hung, many years ago, an idea was proposed that the VNPT’s backbone would be moved out of the group. However, the current conditions have changed so much, and if this plan is done, the enterprise will not be able to survive. Therefore, VNPT would ask the ministry to propose the government to allow VNPT continue operating as a national telecommunication group.

Another issue which has been mentioned is the information network specializing in serving Communist Party’s and the State’s agencies. The government and the Ministry of Information and Communication allow VNPT to invest in the network, manage and operate the information network.

At present, according to VNPT, the network is capable in quality to serve Party’s and the State’s agencies. However, VNPT cannot use the network to serve other subjects.

VNPT may ask the ministry to propose the government to allow taking full advantage of the infrastructure the government has invested in. If letting other enterprises to make further investment, this would cause a big waste.

However, the above said issues remain just proposals.

According to Hung, some years ago, the group was asked by the ministry to carry out a restructuring process. However, this has become more urgent now than some years before. “VNPT understands that the restructuring is not the administrative order by the management agency, but a necessity for the enterprise,” Hung said.

However, though it has become urgent, how to deal with VinaPhone and MobiFone has not been decided yet.

Experts say that if merging the two networks, this would bring disadvantages to VNPT. The leadership would become cumbersome, while this would “dilute” the business model which has been very effectively organized over the last many years by MobiFone. Besides, they have warned that the merger may lead to the returning of the monopoly on the mobile telecom market.

Therefore, they believe that equitizing one of the two networks would be the optimal solution.

In fact, the statements recently made by high ranking officials also make people believe that equitization would be the method to be chosen.

Nguyen Thanh Hung, Deputy Minister of Information and Communication, emphasized at an event of the ministry recently that the Decree No 25 guiding the implementation of the Telecommunication Law shows the will of the State to create a healthy market and eliminate the monopoly.

Hung also said that the ministry would ask the government to speed up the equitization of state owned enterprises in order to create a real competitive market.

Source: TBKTVN