VietNamNet Bridge – More and more people have the opportunities to use wi-fi free of charge, which has vexed mobile network operators.

The operators have been repeatedly complaining at the meetings with the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) since late 2012 that the existence of the free wi-fi access points would make them “die more rapidly.”

However, they still cannot do anything to clear the points. Meanwhile, more and more cafes which provide free wi-fi to clients as additional service have been set up.

And not only café, restaurants, hotels, schools, shopping malls and train stations all offer free wi-fi to clients, simply because if they don’t provide the service, they would be less competitive than the rivals. The owners of the restaurants or schools, which are the subscribers, believe that they can use the service as they want, provided that they pay money to the service providers.

At the meeting on September 27, 2013, the Vietnam Post and Telecommunication Group VNPT, made the decision to offer free modem with wi-fi instead of normal modems (with no wi-fi) to new subscribers, a measure to become more competitive in developing ADSL subscribers.

Vietnam not only has “wi-fi cafes”, but also “wi-fi cities”. The ancient town of Hoi An, Ha Long City, where there is Ha Long Bay – the world’s natural heritage, Hue – the ancient capital city, Da Nang – where there is one of the most beautiful beaches in the plant, all offer free wi-fi as a measure to attract tourists.

It is unclear if the local authorities would think of collecting fees on wi-fi services in the future. However, currently, the wi-fi service there is completely free of charge, even though it is very costly to maintain the service. The tourist city of Da Lat is also considering providing free wi-fi to users.

A source said that it costs some VND300 billion to build up a wi-fi network for such as a small city like Hoi An. The money is just enough for equipments and installation only, while the city still has to pay for the infrastructure maintenance.

The rapid increase in the number of free wi-fi access points nationwide has led to the sharp increase in the number of people using the Internet-based services, from surfing on Internet, checking mails to OTT services.

There is no official figure about how many regular free wi-fi regular users. There are also the figures about the service users. According to VNNIC, there are 31.3 million Internet users and 19.6 million of Facebook users.

However, mobile network operators still know well that the number of free wi-fi service users has been increasing dramatically, especially after the mobile network operators sent words intimating that they would raise the 3G service fee. The higher number of free wi-fi users would mean the lower turnover for mobile network operators.

Analysts have warned that the number of 3G service subscribers would decrease once the service fee increases. The subscribers would rather use free wi-fi instead of paying VND60,000 or VND70,000 for the popularly used 3G packages such as Max or MIU.

Mai Liem Truc, former Deputy Minister of Post and Telematics, which is now the Ministry of Information and Communication, also thinks that it is very difficult to clear free wi-fi access points.

Mai Chinh