Vietnam Ceases Licensing New Mobile Phone Networks

Vietnam ceases licensing new mobile phone networks

HANOI, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) — The Vietnamese government has just announced to temporarily cease licensing new mobile phone networks since bandwidths for mobile phone services have been used up, local newspaper Investment reported Monday.

The government has officially refused to license the Central Vietnam Television to establish a new mobile phone network. The television station is one of several companies and organizations which have recently asked for permission to offer mobile phone services.

Now, Vietnam has six mobile phone service providers with VinaPhone and MobiFone, affiliated to the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Corporation, being the largest ones.

The number of mobile phone users in Vietnam with population of over 82 million, which stood at 6 million in mid-September, is expected to increase to 7.3 million by the end of this year and 21. 2 million in late 2008, the state-owned corporation told Xinhua recently.

The increasing mobile phone subscribers in Vietnam are partly attributed to falling prices of products and services, rising affluence of local residents, and more value-added services such as games and music.

With the development pace, Vietnam has become one of Asia’s fastest-growing mobile phone markets, with the industry’s average annual growth rate of 47.8 percent in the 2001-2004 period, the corporation said.