VietNamNet Bridge – While users are venting their anger at the 3G fee hikes by MobiFone, Viettel and VinaPhone, the three major mobile carriers are suspected of having committed anti-competitive practices.

A VinaPhone staffer introduces 3G service to customers. Users are venting their anger at the huge 3G fee hikes by MobiFone, Viettel and VinaPhone.

After these telecom companies increased the average fee by 20% and the fee for unlimited packages by 40% following the Ministry of Information and Communications’ approval, lots of users have shown their displeasure with the reason behind the fee rises.

The MIU package of MobiFone is up from VND50,000 a month to VND70,000, with its free data volume raised to 600MB from 400MB. Similarly, the MiMax package rises to VND70,000 a month from the current VND50,000 at Viettel and the fee for the Dmax package is adjusted up to VND120,000 from VND100,000 with 1.5 GB of free data.

VinaPhone on Monday also announced to increase 3G fees, with the unlimited MAX and MAXS packages adjusted up by VND20,000 and VND15,000 a month respectively, while their free data volume was up from 400MB to 600MB.

Deputy Minister of MIC Le Nam Thang explained the mobile networks had increased 3G fees not on the ground that OTT services like Viber and Zalo had caused revenue losses for them.

They have invested huge amounts of money in technical infrastructure and have spent a long time applying below-cost fees to attract customers, he noted, and given the current huge numbers of 3G subscribers, they have found it suitable to raise fees for a profit.

Thang said local 3G fees remain lower than global and regional levels but stressed his ministry would enhance inspections and controls on their service quality in the future.

Angry with the higher 3G prices, Vu Tuan Anh, a MobiFone user, said he had received a notice from the operator late last week but the 40% increase was too big. Nguyen Van Nhu, an information technology expert, pondered if the fee hikes matched service quality as the current data transmission speed of 128kbps was too slow.

Other customers also complained about the poor quality of the present 3G service, saying the strength of 3G signals in remote areas is poor.

Even several technology companies have warned of the poor quality of 3G services at home. At a briefing on the 3G service quality in Hanoi in May, Huawei Vietnam expressed concerns about the local service quality.

Zhao Wei Jun, general director of Huawei Vietnam, at the briefing said that local 3G service was faster when users are on the go while most users went to the web when at home. He urged local mobile service providers to apply technology solutions available on the market to cope with the problem.

A survey conducted by the market research firm Nielsen and Vietnam Post newspaper in Hanoi, Danang and HCMC in 2012 shows that despite the strong 3G service growth, customer satisfaction with the service had weakened, from 71 in 2011 to 64 out of 100 points that year.

Regarding this issue, Nguyen Viet Dung, deputy director of Viettel, at a recent seminar attributed the lower-than-before customer satisfaction to higher requirements of users. Users just read news in previous years but now tend to watch videos and see photos as well, he noted.

According to lawyer Le Thanh Kinh, director of the Le Nguyen Law Office, the unexpected 3G fee hikes have shown signs of going against the country’s prevailing law. As MobiFone, Viettel and VinaPhone hold a combined market share of 97%, they are seen as dominant market players based on Article 11 of the Competition Law, Kinh said, adding the decision by the MIC to allow these firms to increase 3G fees constitutes a violation of the competition law.

Source: SGT