Although the deadline for shutting down 2G has been extended to October 15, according to suppliers and retail systems, it is still difficult to have enough 4G devices for users at the time of shutdown, because the goods cannot arrive in time.

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The demand for 4G push-button phones is still very high. Photo: Minh Khue

4G push-button phones grow strongly but are in short supply

According to Mr. Nguyen Minh Khue, representative of Viettel Store system, with prior planning, in the past time Viettel Store has continuously imported 4G push-button phones from partners to meet the needs of customers.

Up to now, according to the system's records, the sales of 4G devices have increased by 20% compared to August 2024 and about 10 times higher than the same period in 2023.

4G push-button phones in the price range from 390,000 VND to under 800,000 VND are currently of most interest to customers of this system, and the customers who choose to buy them are mainly middle-aged and elderly people.

Mr. Nguyen The Kha, Commercial Director of FPT Shop, also said that in early September 2024, the system experienced a sudden increase in purchasing power for 4G push-button phones, leading to a local shortage of goods. However, FPT Shop immediately restored the supply to try to meet consumer demand.

Currently, FPT Shop is working with all brands that have 4G phones such as Nokia (HMD), Masstel, Itel, Mobell, INOI, Viettel, Benco... to have enough supply to serve customers.

With maximum support from manufacturers, this system is confident that it will ensure supply for both the shutdown period and the later period, when customers need to buy keypad phones.

At the CellphoneS system, Mr. Huy Nguyen, media representative, said that due to the need to convert 2G phones to 4G recently, sales of push-button phones continue to grow strongly.

In particular, the demand for this phone line has not decreased, but has even increased due to the damage caused by storms and floods. Currently, CellphoneS is selling 4G push-button phones from major brands such as Nokia, Masstel, and recently Mobell and Itel.

However, the current arrivals only meet 70-80% of consumer demand; the remaining 20% ​​still have to wait, due to the impact of storms and floods, the arrivals will be slower than before.

Mr. Tran Duc Tin, Director of Mobile Telecommunications, Mobile World Joint Stock Company, shared that the demand for 4G push-button phones of users in Vietnam has been growing strongly in recent times. However, Mr. Tran Duc Tin said that in this system, sales in the first 10 days of September 2024 decreased compared to August 2024 and the main reason was due to lack of goods, because the companies did not have enough quantity to meet the demand.

Currently, The Gioi Di Dong is selling and waiting for the company to replenish the stock. When the stock arrives, it will be immediately delivered to customers.

According to the reporter's records, the demand for 4G push-button phones is still very high. Recently, HMD brought 105 4G push-button phones to the Vietnamese market, the quantity was about 700,000 units, but just a few days later, the store systems said that this product was out of stock. It is known that the next shipment of about 500,000 units is on the way to Vietnam to serve customer needs.

There is no price increase, goods are coming in slowly.

Recently, many customers have reported that 4G push-button phones have increased in price abnormally. Specifically, within just 1 month, some product lines have increased in price by up to hundreds of thousands of dong.

However, representatives of Viettel Store, FPT Shop, The Gioi Di Dong and CellphoneS all confirmed that there was absolutely no price increase from these systems. The price increase may occur at small retail mobile phone stores in the market in remote areas.

According to Mr. Huy Nguyen, currently 4G push-button phones are being shipped in small quantities, due to the impact of storms and floods that have affected the shipping process, so it will take some time in the future to continue to have enough goods to serve customers fully.

Mr. Nguyen Viet Hoang, General Director of HMD Global Indochina, also confirmed that the company's 4G push-button phones were delayed due to storms and floods, and the shipping process was slower than planned.

With the extension of the shutdown period to October 15, Mr. Nguyen Viet Hoang said that there will definitely still be a shortage of goods. Because to have goods to sell on the market, distributors must place orders with the companies at least 2.5 months in advance. If orders are placed from May 2024, they will not have goods to sell until August 2024.

However, recently, many parties have been hesitant to bring in large quantities of goods because they do not have specific information about the shutdown of 2G waves and the number of subscribers who want to continue using 4G push-button phones.

Sharing the same opinion, Mr. Tran Duc Tin also shared that the difficulty now is that the company cannot count the number of real subscribers who are lacking devices in the market.

For example, many customers who previously used push-button phones as secondary phones no longer use them, or a large number of traders who previously bought large quantities of "brick" phones to store SIM cards for selling SIM numbers, but now no longer do so. These are numbers that are very difficult to specifically count.

However, representatives of suppliers and retailers also said that if customers cannot wait for 4G push-button phones, they can switch to buying cheap smartphones when 2G is turned off. Currently, there are many promotional programs for these phone lines.