At MIC’s monthly regular press conference this month, in response to a question from reporters, the representative of MIC shared management views on the birth and development of virtual network operators in Việt Nam.

Nguyễn Phong Nhã, deputy director of the Việt Nam Telecommunications Authority (VNTA), said that mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) was no longer a new concept.

These are businesses that do not own telecommunications infrastructure but still provide mobile services by renting infrastructure from carriers.

Up to now, MIC has licensed five businesses to provide virtual mobile network services in Việt Nam, including Indochina Telecom, Mobicast, ASIM, Digilife and VNSky.

VNTA statistics show that there were about 2.65 million subscribers of virtual carriers in Việt Nam as of April 30, accounting for 2.1 per cent of the total number of subscribers in the entire mobile market.

Virtual carriers currently only account for a small number of users, the services provided are only modest, and there are no services that really create their own strengths, said Nhã.

To promote development, virtual carriers should find a service that really benefits users, he recommended, for example, services related to niche markets that large carriers can not reach.

This is a direction in line with the development trend of the world and will contribute to promoting the development of content services, create more telecommunications services on the basis of broadband internet.

The regulations on service provision for virtual carriers were relatively easy as they did not own the infrastructure, and did not participate in applying for frequency licences, said Nhã.

Virtual carriers only need to sign contracts to buy SIMs from other mobile carriers to be able to provide services.

In the process of amending the Law on Telecommunications, VNTA has added a wholesale policy to create a more transparent and easier legal corridor, helping carriers negotiate in the process of buying traffic, from which they can provide good quality service with attractive prices.

“Virtual carriers need to find an attractive niche to maintain a stable subscriber base and have a higher ARPU (average revenue per customer) than the current average,” said Nhã.

Livestream breaks law: Immediately cut off Internet connection

Telecommunication and Internet services will not be provided to users whose livestreams violate the law, heard the conference.

Nguyễn Thị Thanh Huyền, deputy director of the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information, said that the use of livestreams on social networks was very popular nowadays.

In particular, there are subjects who have taken advantage of the livestreams to propagate against the Party and State, spread false information, and insult individuals and organisations.

In order to improve the efficiency of Internet service use management, a draft decree replacing Decree 72 proposes quick and urgent handling measures for individuals who violate laws on Internet environment, including the form of livestreams, shared Huyền.

The authority acknowledged that stopping the provision of telecommunication and Internet services was not a complete solution because violators could use different accounts.

But this was an urgent additional handling solution, to immediately handle situations and errors detected in the network environment, said the deputy director. — VNS