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As telecom market heats up, users reap benefits
Users are benefiting from tough competition among telecom companies operating in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue.
Thanks to the tight rivalry, the companies are offering more options for their customers to choose from, including operators, prices and service quality.There are four main telecom operators in the provinces – VNPT, Viettel, Mobifone and EVN Telecom.
VNPT was the first to come to the province. The company now has more than 155,000 subscribers, of which fixed phones account for 123,000, while their subsidiaries: Gphone has 10,791 users, Vinaphone has nearly 2,400 and Internet ADSL has over 19,000 clients.
Though Viettel arrived in Hue a little later than VNPT in April 2003, thanks to its 80 transmitters spread throughout the province, the military-run mobile phone network provider has become a major player.
Over the past six years, Viettel has provided services to 250,000 mobile phone subscribers, 2,000 fixed lines, 10,000 home phones and 2,000 Internet ADSL subscribers in Hue City.
In the first six months of 2008, the company earned VND100 billion (US$6 million). It’s aiming to gain a turnover of VND250 billion by the end of this year.Meanwhile Mobifone, a telecom operator, has been selected as the best telecom service provider in the country over the past four consecutive years, from 2005 to 2008.
Mobifone says that its primary objective is quality. With 99 transmitters and four base station controllers (BSC), the company has attracted 123,000 subscribers, mostly business people and students.
A question of quality
Tough competition among telecom operators in recent years has helped cut down on service costs.
In reality, service quality has been impaired by a rapid increase in the number of subscribers along with poor infrastructure. This problem is considered a key barrier to industry development.
To ensure higher quality services, telecom operators need to invest more in improving their infrastructure, as well as adding more BSCs.
To facilitate conditions for telecom companies to offer higher quality services, the Thua Thien- Hue Department of Information and Communications is in the process of formulating a post and telecommunications plan for the next two years to 2010.
VNS
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