VietNamNet Bridge – OTT service providers like Zalo, LINE Messenger have all expressed their goodwill of cooperating with mobile network operators to exploit the telecom market.

Doing business in fear

Vuong Quang Khai, Deputy General Director of VNG, the firm that provides Zalo OTT service, said the firm has been “doing business in fear,” because it’s still unclear about the fate of OTT services.

There is no legal framework that sets up the “rail” for OTT service providers to follow. Though OTT services which allow making calls and messages free of charge, have been welcomed by the community, they may be eliminated once the services “take the bread out of mobile service providers’ mouth.”

However, it seems that OTT firms now can sigh with relief as the Ministry of Information and Communication, the watchdog agency, has told telecom groups not to try to kill OTT services, but to cooperate with them.

Telcos might have realized that it is impossible to sink OTT services, because it is a growing tendency in the world. This could be the reason why VNG has poured big money into Zalo.

Nguyen Phong Loc, a senior executive of NHN Vietnam, which provides LINE Messenger, also said that NHN Vietnam keeps anxious about the future of OTT services in the Vietnamese market.

He went on to say that NHN, when investing in Vietnam, has got the investment license and has been following the Vietnamese laws, satisfying all the requirements set up by the management agencies. Therefore, it has the right to develop the services in a transparent and fair legal framework.

Better cooperation than confrontation

Khai stressed that OTT services do not harm mobile network operators as seriously as they think. While OTT services have led to the decrease in the voice and message service turnover, they have helped push up the demand for 3G, Mobile Internet services which bring profits to the network operators.

Therefore, Khai said it would be better for telcos such as Viettel, VinaPhone and MobiFone to cooperate closely with OTT firms to bring best services to the community than trying to curtail each other.

OTT firms and telcos have been suggested to cooperate to set up the mobile payment channel, provide non-voice services, added value services which satisfy the most essential demands of people, such as the ones in healthcare and entertainment. The cooperation would create benefits for the involved parties.

According to the representative from LINE, telcos’ advantages lie in the strong infrastructure, high number of customers, while OTT firms’ advantages lie in the creativeness.

Loc of LINE said LINE is willing to sit together with telcos to build up the service packages for the Vietnamese market. These could be the services bear the telcos’ brands, or both the OTT firms’ and telcos’ brands, such as Viettel – LINE or MobiFone – LINE.

In fact, this is not for the first time OTT service providers express their desire of cooperating with telcos. Loc said LINE made the offer for cooperation many times, both on official meetings, and through unofficial channels.

However, Loc said the thing that OTT firms are most looking forward to is a perfect legal framework which can show the way the firms have to go.

Buu Dien