VietNamNet Bridge – The two big Internet service providers -- VNPT and FPT may see their ADSL subscribers quit the networks and use CMC Telecom’s Internet service on cable TV.

On March 6, CMC Telecom, a big telecom group, and VTCV, a big cable TV content service provider, signed a strategic cooperation on providing Internet services on VCTV’s cable TV infrastructure network.

CMC Telecom said the service would be provided from August 2013, and hoped that about 200,000 VCTV subscribers would use the CMC Telecom’s Internet service on GigaNet Home.

In the immediate time, CMC Telecom would develop the cable TV-based Internet service GigaNet Home in Hanoi, then in the northern provinces of Bac Ninh, Hai Phong and Hai Duong provinces, where there is a high number of VCTV’s subscribers.

The telecom group hopes that it would have 30 percent of clients using GigaNet Home.

When the service is launched, with just one signal transmission line, VCTV’s subscribers not only can use cable TV packages, SD and HD TV that VCTV is providing, but can also easily get Internet access on the cable TV network at high transmission speed of between 2Mbps and 10 Mbps.

Especially, clients would be able to use Internet service at the prices which are 10-15 percent lower than the fees they have to pay for ADSL service. In the future, with just one TV, customers would be able to enjoy different integrated added value services such as e-commerce, distance training and amusement programs.

CMC Telecom said that it now has some 20,000 GigaNet Home subscribers on the Hanoi Cable TV and Song Thu Cable TV in Da Nang City. The representative of CMC Telecom also said the telco does not intend to compete directly with ADSL service, but just aims to bring another choice to customers in the big cities, where the coverage of cable TVs is even greater than the fixed telephone line network.

He also affirmed that the quality of the Internet service on cable TV is nearly the same, or even higher than ADSL with the allowed download speed equal to upload speed, about 50-100 Mbps.

The big advantage of the Internet service on cable TV is that the installation would not require much time (no more than three days), because CMC Telecom can use the existing infrastructure system of cable TVs.

What’ll be of FPT and VNPT?

Experts have warned that if the quality of the CMC Telecom’s service is “acceptable,” and if the price is competitive, FPT and VNPT, the two biggest ADSL service providers, would see their subscribers leave the networks and shift to use CMC Telecom’s service.

Meanwhile, the representatives of VNPT and FPT have affirmed that there’s no need to worry about that. Though some subscribers have left the networks, the number is too small to affect the subscriber growth in Hanoi and Da Nang Cities, the two localities where CMC Telecom is providing GigaNet Home.

A senior executive of FPT said that after CMC Telecom and VCTV sign the strategic cooperation agreement, the number of subscribers to leave the network may be higher, but FPT Telecom believes it still can retain its clients.

The executive said some clients have returned to use FPT’s services after a period of using CMC Telecom’s services, because the quality of Internet on cable TV is not good enough.

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