VietNamNet Bridge – The Trans Pacific Strategic Partnership Agreement (TPP), which is expected to be signed later this year or early the next year, would bring big disadvantages to domestic mobile network operators, because of the TPP’s provisions on creating most favorable conditions for Internet service providers and removing all the barriers.

Vietnamese mobile network operators have been told that they’d be betteroff to not think of trying to block OTT apps to retain their profits, because this would not be able to become realistic.

The world’s and Vietnam’s telecom industry is facing a historic challenge created by the cooperation between 3G technology and smart phones. Telecom groups have been warned that the cooperation would make the charges on messages and calls down to zero. In this case, the telcos whose money mostly comes from voice services would have to shift to other types of business.

Mobile network operators, in an effort to retain their means of subsistence, once discussed the measures to block OTT services, collect fees from users or tighten control over the use of OTT services.

The discussions were held at the same time when the Vietnamese delegation attended an additional meeting in the framework of TPP held in Utah, the US.

The telcos were then warned that it would be a dangerous behavior to make the statement and put forward the measures, which come contrary to the international practice, at negotiating time.

If Vietnamese telco groups try to preserve their profit worth trillions of dong by blocking OTT services, they would have to confront the “big guys” from all over the world, namely Youtube, iMessege, Skype, Yahoo Messenger, or Facebook Messenger, Google Hangout , Line and Kakao Talk.

In general, when negotiating important international economic agreements, making the statements unsuitable with the principle of trade liberalization or equal treatment in finance and telecom – the delicate sectors - would make it more difficult for involved parties to reach consensuses.

A former senior official of the Ministry of Trade, which is now the Ministry of Industry and Trade, who attended a lot of negotiation rounds for Vietnam’s admission to WTO, said this explains why management agencies or businesses do not take the actions that go contrary to the international practice, or the principles which have been accepted worldwide.

A former senior official of the Ministry of Information and Communication commented that even if TPP is not taken into consideration, the WTO commitments and the Competition Law alone do not allow telecom groups to prevent or hinder the development of OTT apps.

“In the past, Vietnamese mobile network operators allowed Skype, Yahoo Messenger, Facebook, Viber to operate and provide services to Vietnamese. Why do they try to prevent them from using the services now?” he questioned.

“Vietnam cannot cause an obstruction to the development of OTT apps now, and it all the more will not be able to do this in the future, once it signs TPP agreement, because it must not take a step back in the path to the trade liberalization,” he said, adding that if Vietnam still tries this, it would face the strong opposition from the international community.

Mai Chi