Up to now, the Ministry of Information and Communications has licensed 4 enterprises to provide mobile virtual network services (MVNO) in Vietnam, including Dong Duong Telecom, Mobicast, ASIM, Digilife. According to the Department of Telecommunications, as of April 30, the number of mobile phone subscribers of these networks has grown to 2.65 million, accounting for 2.1% of the total number of subscribers in the whole market.
Currently, the Vietnamese mobile market has low ARPU and is facing strong competition from OTT services. Therefore, the Vietnamese mobile market needs a new wind. The participation of virtual mobile network operators in providing services is expected to contribute to diversifying the types of services serving digital transformation, in the fields of finance, education, health, entertainment, etc.
Previously, Mr. Nguyen Phong Nha, Deputy Director of the Department of Telecommunications (Ministry of Information and Communications), said that the MVNO model is a new model in Vietnam. This model can quickly deploy services nationwide, save infrastructure and resources, and will bring new value to customers.
In terms of advantages, virtual mobile networks do not have to invest in infrastructure but only buy traffic from network operators with infrastructure. Thus, virtual mobile networks only focus on business to design products suitable for customers. Thus, virtual mobile networks will choose a niche market that they have strengths to target, not as broad as network operators with infrastructure.
However, virtual mobile networks are heavily dependent on network operators as network operators with infrastructure are always in a “superior” position. If the market remains in a “superior, inferior” position, it is very likely that negative things will arise in this field. Furthermore, the virtual mobile network model is still quite new in Vietnam and management policies must still be improved to create a competitive market.
A source shared with VietNamNet that there needs to be a clear policy on conditions for participating in virtual mobile networks and to avoid cases where network operators with infrastructure set up barriers to limit virtual networks from participating in the market or being pushed into difficult markets.
In 2010, the Ministry of Information and Communications also licensed a number of virtual mobile networks such as VTC, FPT... According to the license, VTC will provide mobile information services on EVN Telecom's 3G infrastructure and roam with domestic 2G networks. At that time, VTC Digicom (a subsidiary of VTC) said that the company will provide mobile information services on EVN Telecom's 3G infrastructure. In addition to this network, VTC will study roaming options with other mobile networks to expand service coverage for customers - places where EVN Telecom's 3G network has not yet reached. Although FPT was licensed for a virtual mobile network, at that time it did not have a business plan and did not cooperate with network operators with infrastructure.
At that time, the Ministry of Information and Communications said that virtual mobile networks do not have their own frequency bands, but must use the infrastructure and frequency bands of other mobile networks. Therefore, the Ministry of Information and Communications' viewpoint is not to control the number of businesses participating in this field. If any business meets the requirements, the Ministry will grant a license. However, after a while, businesses quietly withdrew from this market.
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