Large Vietnamese mobile service providers have integrated their contentapplications with sim cards without revealing their activities tocustomers, according to the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Informationand Communications (MIC).
At a meeting in Hanoi onDecember 25, inspectors said companies with large market shares,including Viettel, MobiFone and VinaPhone, have added contents ontoSIMcards without asking permission from users.
Theinspection results revealed that the three telecom providers haveinstalled their applications (Viettel with Viettel Plus, MobiFone withSuperSim and LiveInfo, VinaPhone with IOD) onto their SIMcards to allowusers to download information and determine their remaining credit.
They did not, however, provide clear information about service fees,and did not allow users to verify whether they agreed to use theservices based upon the companies' price lists.
Between June 2012 and June 2013, VinaPhone had earned 20.67 billion VND(984.2 million USD) from its services, and MobiFone, which cooperatedwith 17 content service providers, had taken in 150.57 billion VND (7.17million USD). The total revenues reported by Viettel were not providedat the meeting.
VinaPhone also collaborated withVASC Software and Media Company, under the Viet Nam Posts andTelecommunications Group, or VNPT, to offer a website for users tolisten to music, read and download information.
They collected fees, but did not set a price for the services. Therevenues from the website from July 2012 to May 2013 were 8.94 billionVND (426,000 USD).
For charging users for failedtext messages, MobiFone had to return 816.75 million VND (nearly 38,900USD), while VinaPhone were required to refund 692.7 million VND (32,990USD) to subscribers.
However, MobiFone and VinaPhonecould not return 227.62 million VND (10,840 USD) and 76.87 million VND(3,660 USD), respectively, because of subscribers who had stopped usingthe network.
Although the report from theinspectorate agency had not listed the specific amount Viettel isrequired to return to its customers, it did say that the firm continuessending advertisements to users through text messaging to customers whohad previously refused to accept ad messages.
Do HuuTri, deputy chief inspector of the ministry, said that at this time,officials have not required the companies to stop offering servicesintegrated into SIMcards.
However, he said that thecompanies have a responsibility to resolve this issue and report theirresults to the ministry. If they do not comply, they will not be allowedto provide services, as stipulated by regulations in Decree N°77 of theGovernment, which came into effect on January 1, 2013.
The Inspectorate of the MIC also discovered faults in billingcustomers for prepaid SIMcards, fining selling locations nearly 2billion VND (95,200 USD) in 2013.
The faults werediscovered after the MIC's Department of Information and Communicationscarried out inspections at 29,377 locations selling SIMcards, out of48,420 locations across the country, from May 15 to August 30.Inspectors also confiscated 34,667 prepaid SIMcards.
Besides the large-scale investigation which was conducted throughDecember 15, inspectors also fined companies 3.49 billion VND (170,000USD) for administrative violations in telecommunications andinformation, media, publishing, online information and posted fields.-VNA
At a meeting in Hanoi onDecember 25, inspectors said companies with large market shares,including Viettel, MobiFone and VinaPhone, have added contents ontoSIMcards without asking permission from users.
Theinspection results revealed that the three telecom providers haveinstalled their applications (Viettel with Viettel Plus, MobiFone withSuperSim and LiveInfo, VinaPhone with IOD) onto their SIMcards to allowusers to download information and determine their remaining credit.
They did not, however, provide clear information about service fees,and did not allow users to verify whether they agreed to use theservices based upon the companies' price lists.
Between June 2012 and June 2013, VinaPhone had earned 20.67 billion VND(984.2 million USD) from its services, and MobiFone, which cooperatedwith 17 content service providers, had taken in 150.57 billion VND (7.17million USD). The total revenues reported by Viettel were not providedat the meeting.
VinaPhone also collaborated withVASC Software and Media Company, under the Viet Nam Posts andTelecommunications Group, or VNPT, to offer a website for users tolisten to music, read and download information.
They collected fees, but did not set a price for the services. Therevenues from the website from July 2012 to May 2013 were 8.94 billionVND (426,000 USD).
For charging users for failedtext messages, MobiFone had to return 816.75 million VND (nearly 38,900USD), while VinaPhone were required to refund 692.7 million VND (32,990USD) to subscribers.
However, MobiFone and VinaPhonecould not return 227.62 million VND (10,840 USD) and 76.87 million VND(3,660 USD), respectively, because of subscribers who had stopped usingthe network.
Although the report from theinspectorate agency had not listed the specific amount Viettel isrequired to return to its customers, it did say that the firm continuessending advertisements to users through text messaging to customers whohad previously refused to accept ad messages.
Do HuuTri, deputy chief inspector of the ministry, said that at this time,officials have not required the companies to stop offering servicesintegrated into SIMcards.
However, he said that thecompanies have a responsibility to resolve this issue and report theirresults to the ministry. If they do not comply, they will not be allowedto provide services, as stipulated by regulations in Decree N°77 of theGovernment, which came into effect on January 1, 2013.
The Inspectorate of the MIC also discovered faults in billingcustomers for prepaid SIMcards, fining selling locations nearly 2billion VND (95,200 USD) in 2013.
The faults werediscovered after the MIC's Department of Information and Communicationscarried out inspections at 29,377 locations selling SIMcards, out of48,420 locations across the country, from May 15 to August 30.Inspectors also confiscated 34,667 prepaid SIMcards.
Besides the large-scale investigation which was conducted throughDecember 15, inspectors also fined companies 3.49 billion VND (170,000USD) for administrative violations in telecommunications andinformation, media, publishing, online information and posted fields.-VNA
