VNPT restructuring for sustainable telecom development

The Ministry of Information and Communications is determined to restructure telecommunications businesses this year including splitting the mobile service provider MobiFone from the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) and establishing a mobile information corporation, reported the online Vietnam Economic News.
The Ministry of Information and Communications is determined torestructure telecommunications businesses this year including splittingthe mobile service provider MobiFone from the Vietnam Posts andTelecommunications Group (VNPT) and establishing a mobile informationcorporation, reported the online Vietnam Economic News.

PhamHong Hai, head of the ministry's Telecommunications Department, saidthat the telecommunications sector in Vietnam had grown robustly foryears, becoming the world’s fastest as a result of impressive growth ofmany businesses. However, telecommunications networks have problems interms of quality and stability.

Three giants – Viettel,VinaPhone and MobiFone - account for 95 percent of the Vietnamesetelecommunications market, while other businesses share a modest 5percent, making them unable to compete. “For this reason, the Vietnamesetelecommunications market needs to be restructured to promotesustainable development,” said Hai.

Former Deputy Minister ofInformation and Communications Mai Liem Truc said that one owner shouldnot have many subsidiaries which compete with each other. He also saidthat the Vietnamese telecommunications market was not really competitiveas it had been managed by State agencies via their administrativedecisions.

CMC Group Joint Stock Company General DirectorNguyen Trung Chinh said a monopoly existed, and that new brand namessuch as Gtel’s Beeline and Hutchison’s HTMobile had been defeated due tounfair competition and a State monopoly. Opportunities for small andnon-state businesses remain insufficient.

Hai said that theministry had submitted a telecommunications market restructuring schemeto Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung with a focus on streamlining the VNPTby splitting MobiFone and forming a new, independent business.

He also said that as MobiFone is strong and more independent thanVinaPhone, splitting it from the VNPT would facilitate theimplementation of the Government’s policy to equitise businesses (i.e.transform them into joint stock companies), while at the same time makethe VNPT grow in a more rapid and dynamic manner in the near future.Following the scheme, a minimum of three strong businesses would beestablished providing sustainability for the competitive market.

VNPT General Director Tran Manh Hung said that his group submitted aVNPT restructuring scheme to the Prime Minister in May 2012. Followingthe scheme, the VNPT would separate MobiFone so as not to concurrentlymanage two mobile networks and to make the group grow faster in theyears to come.

MobiFone Chairman Le Ngoc Minh said that onceMobiFone is separated, it will become an independent business and haveopportunities to expand and diversify its telecommunications andinformation technology services, rather than existing mobile services asits core business. “MobiFone is a well-established brand name with astrong and skilled workforce and is therefore able to compete in theVietnamese telecommunications market,” he said.-VNA

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