VietNamNet Bridge – Small mobile network operators have voiced the same complaint that they are facing the bad consequences caused by the monopoly in the market, which has appeared after Viettel and VNPT joined hands to raise telecom circuit leasing charges.

In 2000s, Viettel joined the telecom market, putting and end to the prolonged period of the Vietnam Post and Telecommunication Corporation’s (VNPT) monopoly in the market.

At that time, the telecommunication circuit leasing was one of the biggest obstacles for Viettel to survive and develop in the market. Local newspapers continuously reported the stories about the unhealthy competition among telcos. Finally, Viettel decided to build up the infrastructure system of its own to terminate the reliance on VNPT’s infrastructure.

After that, a lot of telcos also applied for setting up infrastructure systems of their own. To date, nearly 10 companies have been licensed to set up network infrastructure. However, in fact, the circuit leasing market had been controlled by the three most powerful service providers – EVN Telecom, VNPT and Viettel.

However, after EVN Telecom left the market because of continued losses, the monopoly has reportedly returned, when the other two, VNPT and Viettel, joined forces to control the market.

In the past, people thought nothing of EVN Telecom, a small and unprofitable company. However, they have realized that EVN Telecom was a very important factor which could help maintain a circuit leasing market with low charges.

Small telcos, which still have not got infrastructure or have uncompleted infrastructure, have unanimously denounced VNPT and Viettel of joining hands to raise the leasing charges, thus making them suffer.

The representative of an ISP (Internet service provider) has complained that it has received a notice from VNPT and Viettel about the leasing charge increases.

“Viettel has informed the new charges which are 2-3 times higher than the charges written down in the contracts signed before between us and EVN Telecom,” he said. “The higher leasing charges have urged us to build infrastructure items ourselves for our services,” he continued.

The representative of CMC TI has also confirmed that CMC TI has received the new price quotations from Viettel and VNPT.

Trinh Minh Chau, General Director of Hanoi Telecom, has said that VNPT and Viettel has raised the leasing charges by 300 percent on Vietnamobile network, which is being run by Hanoi Telecom.

VNPT – Viettel collusion denied

Luong Manh Hoang, Director of VTN, a subsidiary of VNPT, has denied the rumor that Viettel and VNPT has joined forces to raise the charges,

Hoang said that VTN considers raising charges after VNPT, the holding company, asked its subsidiaries to keep accounts independently and VTN needs to reconsider its business plan to ensure reasonable profits.

“Therefore, VTN has raised the leasing charges, and the new charges are applied to all businesses, including VNPT’s subsidiaries and others,” he said.

An executive of Viettel Telecom also said that Viettel does not raise the charges. Those, who signed contracts before with EVN Telecom, now have to renew the contracts with Viettel at the current leasing charges being applied by Viettel. He affirmed that the charges applied by EVN Telecom were too low to make profit.

Meanwhile, a high ranking official of the Ministry of Information and Communication has affirmed that the ministry would never let any enterprises to hold the monopoly in the market. He has confirmed that the two big enterprises VNPT and Viettel still have redundant channels to lease. Therefore, enterprises would have many choices for now.

Source: Buu Dien