Despite Viettel’s recent promotional hiccup, mobile service providers continue to launch extensive promotional programmes
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Despite Viettel’s recent promotional hiccup, mobile service providers continue to launch extensive promotional programmes.
Viettel’s programme exempting charges for the first phone call of the day caused serious network problems, however, MobiFone has decided to follow this type of promotion but with limited call times.
Vinaphone, along with cutting charges, has offered bonus foreign tours, totaling nearly VND1bil; and S-Fone continues its programme of exempting connection fees and allowing customers to choose their own telephone number. Nguyen Thi Kim Thoa, legal and public relations expert of S-Fone said that their promotional programme aims to care for existing customers, rather than attract more subscribers.
Tran Manh Hung, Deputy General Director of Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corporation (VNPT) told the press that Vinaphone and MobiFone have considered their network capacity to avoid a similar breakdown to Viettel.
Tran Duc Lai, Deputy Minister of Post and Telecommunications said that if mobile users cannot make phone calls after one or two attempts, then subscribers should be warned of network quality.
In mid-2005 Viettel had around 500,000 subscribers, they now have over 1.2mil. According to Nguyen Viet Dung, Deputy Director of Viettel Mobile, they have 12,000-15,000 new subscribers on average per day. Although Dung said that Viettel has implemented technical solutions to deal with network jams, they do still exist.
While a representative of Vinaphone said that they have not recorded network jams, subscribers still meet breakdowns occasionally. After launching their new promotion, new subscribers increased from 2,500-2,8000/day to 3,500-4,000/day. According to the firm, its network is operating at 60-65% of capacity; however, despite this they are urgently upgrading their network to avoid jams. They hope to serve 5.6mil subscribers by the end of the year.
MobiFone Director, Mai Van Binh, said that the company has reached nearly 3.7mil subscribers in the south alone, accounting for around 60% of total network capacity and that a jam was unlikely. Viettel’s switchboard can serve over 3mil subscribers, nearly three times more than the current number but this network is still experiencing serious jams.
S-Fone, which has over 300,000 subscribers, said that with its current network and a plan to improve switchboard capacity, they can continue serving increasing numbers of subscribers; however, in reality network jams can occur on any mobile phone network and is still out of service providers’ control.
(Source: Vietnamnet)
