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Which mobile network is the best?
MobiFone says its service quality is the best. Viettel affirms it holds the top position for growth of subscribers, while VinaPhone says its network coverage is the broadest. Without any neutral agency responsible for rating, the three above mobile networks have been continuously proclaiming themselves the top network.
In late June, Viettel Mobile celebrated its 20 millionth subscriber and said it was in the lead in developing new subscribers, far exceeding MobiFone and VinaPhone.
Viettel affirmed that thanks to attractive service packages and good service quality, it would have 25 million subscribers in December 2008. According to Viettel, the high number of customers means high satisfaction with its services, making it the undisputed number-one in the mobile service market.
Viettel’s statement was disagreed with by the two mobile networks of the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), VinaPhone and MobiFone. They said that a high number of subscribers is not enough to be the leading mobile operator in Vietnam: The number of clients doesn’t fully reflect the “health” of a mobile network. One must assess the success of a mobile service provider through the satisfaction of customers, service quality, average revenue per user as well as tax paid to the state budget.
Le Ngoc Minh, Director of the VMS-MobiFone company, said MobiFone’s number of subscribers is equivalent to that of Viettel. MobiFone is now at the top for average revenue per user and its service quality is also the best. When the mobile market hits the saturation point and the market is divided clearly, service quality and customer satisfaction will be the criteria to measure the value of a mobile network.
After many years honoured as the largest mobile network in Vietnam, VinaPhone couldn’t accept the brutal fact that its growth of subscribers lagged behind than the growth of Viettel and MobiFone. This mobile service provider said that as Vietnam doesn’t have an agency to rate mobile networks, the network with the highest number of subscribers isn’t really the strongest one. Actually, thanks to big promotional campaigns, the numbers of its subscribers did rocket, but after these campaigns, many subscribers quit the service.
An official from VinaPhone said for the past 11 years, it has been the largest mobile network in Vietnam. “Our senior presence in the market and our coverage of mountainous and rural areas ensures our position will not change,” he said.
Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Le Nam Thang said that these three companies hold over 30% of the market. However, the ministry doesn’t have official statistics about the number of real subscribers of these networks yet.
The Ministry of Information and Communications is compiling a regulation on reporting, statistics and criteria for business ratings for mobile networks to issue in early 2009. Once the regulation is released, the ranking of telecom firms will be defined.
However, experts say that it is difficult to rate telecom firms because each network has its own advantages: VinaPhone is a veteran with good infrastructure, MobiFone has factors for sustainable development while Viettel is creative in approaching customers.
According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, by the end of November 2008, Vietnam had 75.5 million phone subscribers, reaching a teledensity of 82 phones per 100 residents. Of this number, 81% were mobile subscribers.
Meanwhile, according to statistics announced by mobile service companies, the number of subscribers was over 80 million in late November, an impressive number for a country with a population of only over 80 million.
VNE
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