Start collecting prepaid subscription fees from 2013

From January 1, 2013, customers who buy prepaid SIM cards must register for a network connection fee of VND25,000, not including the SIM card fee. The postpaid connection fee remains the same at VND35,000 as it is now.

Applying a connection fee to prepaid subscribers and ending the pre-loading of accounts into SIM cards may make users "afraid" to use junk SIM cards. Photo:Mr. Quan

According to Circular No. 14 issued by the Ministry of Information and Communications on October 12, starting from January 1, 2013, prepaid subscribers must pay a registration fee like postpaid subscribers. The fee for prepaid subscribers is 25,000 VND, while the postpaid fee remains at 35,000 VND as at present. The above price does not include the SIM card fee (25,000 VND), and users only have to pay once when signing a subscription contract with the network operator.

In addition, the Ministry also requires network operators to comply and not arbitrarily increase or decrease network connection fees, and not apply any promotional forms to this type of fee. At the same time, telecommunications service providers are also not allowed to pre-load money into the accounts of SIM cards that have not been registered for network connection or are in circulation on the market.

According to regulations, mobile information enterprises, distributors and organizations and individuals selling subscriber SIM cards must list prices and sell SIM cards to users at the correct prices issued by the enterprise.

Network operators are also not allowed to take advantage of their dominant market position to sell, promote or discount SIM cards at a price lower than the total cost of a blank SIM card plus the prescribed connection fee when selling SIM cards to distributors and service users, in order to compete unfairly and destabilize the market.

Currently, mobile telecommunications service providers sell prepaid connection kits including SIM cards and pre-loaded money in the account, with prices ranging from VND25,000 to VND65,000, depending on the subscription package and without connection fees.

According to a leader of the Ministry of Information and Communications, the measure to collect prepaid mobile network connection fees aims to rebalance the fees currently applied to users, there is no price increase. This is also a stronger move to limit the current situation of junk SIM cards. According to statistics from the Department of Telecommunications (Ministry of Information and Communications), prepaid mobile SIM cards currently have a lifespan of only 6 months to a year, causing the number of numbers to gradually dry up while virtual subscribers increase rapidly.

(According to VnExpress)- LH