State corrals prepaid mobile phone users

All pre-paid mobile subscribers will have to register their name, address and other personal information with phone companies starting in August, the Government has announced.

The rules are designed to limit the number of inactive subscribers and curb harassment, which comes mostly from prepaid users, said Deputy Minister of Post and Telematics Le Nam Thang.

The move will allow the Government to keep tabs on the estimated 24 million Vietnamese who use prepaid services.

They represent about 80 percent of all mobile phone users in the country.

Phone companies will be barred from providing service to callers who don’t provide their name, address and passport number or driver’s license, Thang said.

Current subscribers will see their services cut if they don’t register with their phone company, he said.

HT Mobile Company Deputy Director Nguyen Manh Ha said the firm will bear the cost of managing a database filled with customers’ personal information. But the company supports the policy, he said.

“It will be easier for us to provide customer care services. The majority of our mobile subscribers are now using prepaid services, so we have no information about them.”

The policy also has support among mobile phone users.

“I agree with the regulation. The authorities have their reasons to do so,” said Nguyen Hoang, who works at a Ha Noi bakery and brewery. “It’s good for those who are harassed on the phone.”

Ngo The Hung, who works for a transportation company, said that it will be a bit more complicated and time-consuming, but the regulation will help authorities and mobile service providers control subscribers.

Others felt the same way: “It will take you some time, but I think it will help those who lose their mobile phones to register for service again more easily,” said 31-year-old architect Hoang Hai Son.

Companies that don’t follow the regulations could be fined.

(Source: VNA)