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Most mobile phone providers oppose new price proposal
A controversy has broken out between mobile phone service providers, following a suggestion to the Ministry of Information and Communications by some providers to set a minimum price for services.
During a recent meeting, Viettel and Viet Nam Post and Telecommunication Corporation (VNPT) asked the ministry to establish a floor rate of VND800 per minute for all services.
The VNPT is a government agency. It manages Vinaphone and Mobifone.
Apart from these two providers, Viettel, SFone, EVN Telecoms, Vietnamobile and Beeline also offer mobile phone the same services. Vinaphone, Mobiphone and Viettel are the largest companies. Viettel said the proposal would help prevent price wars, but most of the other providers opposed the idea.
The ministry has yet to respond to the proposal, but it plans, along with the Finance Ministry, to work on regulating prices in the telecommunications sector, including outline anti-dumping measures, according to Pham Hong Hai, director of the ministry’s Telecommunication Department.
Nguyen Xuan Quan, Vietnamobile’s deputy CEO, said his company would be adversely affected by the proposal because it was a new company. "Flexible, interesting prices enable us to attract subscribers," he said.
Beeline’s commercial director Sergey Zakuraev said a ceiling price was reasonable, but a floor price would result in unfair competition and affect customers’ benefits.
Zakuraev said a minimum price policy could lead to an oligopoly because new service providers would not be able to compete with the bigger companies.
Viettel Deputy General Director Nguyen Manh Hung, however, said a floor price policy was better for businesses and customers because it helped to prevent unhealthy competition.
Hung said the bigger companies, who had invested a lot of money in infrastructure, could be adversely affected by low prices offered by other providers.
"The providers should compete with each other on service quality and diversity in services, but not low cost and low quality," he said.
Ho Cong Viet, Head of Vinaphone’s business department, agreed with Hung, saying a floor price policy would prevent some providers from offering extremely low rates.
Quan disagreed, saying that a floor price policy would limit consumer choices.
vietnamnews
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