The Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) continues to dominate the market for internet service providers, claiming over 75 percent of subscribers, with the remainder going to military-run provider Viettel and FPT Telecom.
The VNPT had over 2.5 million ADSL users by the end of 2009, compared to Viettel's 530,000 users and FPT Telecom's 440,000 users.
Early this year, FPT Telecom set a goal to claim 30 percent of market share, while Viettel continued to assert it would maintain the second place in the market.
But FPT Telecom general director Chu Thanh Ha admits that it has been losing nearly as many customers as it can add, with the churning of old-to-new customers reaching as much as 40 percent. Up to 20 percent of all ADSL subscribers have changed their services several times, Ha says.
The VNPT also admits losing existing subscribers at a rate of 13-15 per cent per year, even as it adds new ones. VNPT's Hanoi arm has targeted a million of new broadband subscribers this year alone – and it has been a challenge to meet the goal, says VNPT Hanoi director Tran Manh Hung.
Viettel deputy director Le Huu Hien admits that growth in the market has been disappointing, noting that a large number of users now access the internet using mobile broadband and 3G services rather than through ADSL services.
Sensing which way the winds are blowing, Viettel is now paying more attention to the mobile broadband market than to ADSL development, since it has realised that heavy investment in ADSL infrastructure can no longer be recouped by the number of new customers added.
None of the major ADSL providers has ever released figures on how revenues or profits from providing the services.
The Ministry of Information and Communications has licensed over 40 internet service providers but recently revoked a number of them due to a lack of progress by licensees in deploying services./.
The VNPT had over 2.5 million ADSL users by the end of 2009, compared to Viettel's 530,000 users and FPT Telecom's 440,000 users.
Early this year, FPT Telecom set a goal to claim 30 percent of market share, while Viettel continued to assert it would maintain the second place in the market.
But FPT Telecom general director Chu Thanh Ha admits that it has been losing nearly as many customers as it can add, with the churning of old-to-new customers reaching as much as 40 percent. Up to 20 percent of all ADSL subscribers have changed their services several times, Ha says.
The VNPT also admits losing existing subscribers at a rate of 13-15 per cent per year, even as it adds new ones. VNPT's Hanoi arm has targeted a million of new broadband subscribers this year alone – and it has been a challenge to meet the goal, says VNPT Hanoi director Tran Manh Hung.
Viettel deputy director Le Huu Hien admits that growth in the market has been disappointing, noting that a large number of users now access the internet using mobile broadband and 3G services rather than through ADSL services.
Sensing which way the winds are blowing, Viettel is now paying more attention to the mobile broadband market than to ADSL development, since it has realised that heavy investment in ADSL infrastructure can no longer be recouped by the number of new customers added.
None of the major ADSL providers has ever released figures on how revenues or profits from providing the services.
The Ministry of Information and Communications has licensed over 40 internet service providers but recently revoked a number of them due to a lack of progress by licensees in deploying services./.
