VietNamNet Bridge – FPT Telecom and Viettel as the only two telecom enterprises licensed to offer cable television services but both bemoan hardship in securing contents for their channels.

Talking to the press, deputy general director of FPT Telecom Hoang Trung Kien said that telecom enterprises when providing cable television services had advantages of transmission infrastructure.

However, supplying such services does not simply mean fixing the cable to customers’ houses but needs broadcasting contents which is advantages of television stations, he said. Kien lamented that TV stations do not want to share contents with telecom firms.

“The issue of sharing contents between television stations and telecom enterprises to enable the latter to offer cable TV services is a tough one as both sides have not been able to reach a common voice. New suppliers will encounter many difficulties ahead in dealing with this problem,” Kien said.

Nguyen Manh Hung, deputy general director of Viettel, said at a recent meeting held by the Ministry of Information and Communications that there should be regulations enabling newly-licensed cable television enterprises like Viettel to broadcast programs of television stations under commercial contracts, ensuring mutual benefits and helping viewers in rural areas to watch many programs.

According to Hung from Viettel, telecom firms are not allowed to produce contents and thus are unable to launch services this year as earlier scheduled.

Responding to this issue, director of the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority Pham Hong Hai said that the Ministry of Information and Communications was classifying some basic television channels which must be broadcast by pay television suppliers, meaning such contents must be shared by television stations.

When Viettel and FPT Telecom got the cable television licenses, chairman of VTVCab Pham Thai Hung told the Daily in an interview that his company was not afraid of competition when telecom enterprises entered the pay TV market.

It is contents that are crucial when attracting television viewers and this is an advantage of television stations, he said.

Viettel will supply cable television services this April and targets to have two million subscribers in three years. Meanwhile, services of FPT Telecom will be available this August at the latest.

Source: SGT