3G rates increase, quality must increase!

There are many signs that 3G fees in Vietnam may increase in the near future, causing many users to worry. Meanwhile, the quality, speed, and fee deduction methods of network operators have long been reported by many users as being bad, confusing, and causing frustration.

Preparing to increase 3G rates?

On April 23, the report “Research on 3G user satisfaction in Vietnam in 2014” published by market research firm GFK and the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) and network operators made users wonder. According to the survey results, only 8% of respondents chose the option “Disagree with the increase”, 92% chose the answers agreeing to increase at various levels.

Many users complain about the quality of 3G network on mobile phones.

Many opinions say that the survey questions "trapped" the respondents, so the results did not accurately reflect users' opinions on whether they wanted to increase 3G fees or not, instead of by what level they wanted to increase them.

Immediately after the above report was published, representatives of network operators said there was no plan to increase 3G fees. However, according to telecommunications experts, the increase in 3G fees will take place in the near future.

Responding to this issue, at the regular Government press conference last April, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Bac Son said: “Currently, our fees are being sold below cost. Vietnam is one of the countries with cheap 3G fees. Increasing prices is necessary to ensure that service providers have profits to invest in infrastructure. Viettel's 3G service market share is about 50%, VinaPhone 21%, MobiFone 18% and other carriers account for the rest, so carriers sell at low prices to compete. The Government has requested not to sell below cost, sell at cost so that businesses have revenue to reinvest. However, in the past, carriers have still made profits because they still use services on the 2G platform. In the coming time, we will closely monitor price increases in accordance with the law.”

In the most recent 3G price increases in April and October 2013, the network operators Viettel, VinaPhone, and MobiFone all cited the reason that the service price was only 35%-68% of the cost.

Quality remains open

In 2013, a report by Nielsen showed that user satisfaction with 3G service quality decreased from 71/100 points in 2011 to 64 points in 2012. According to the latest report on April 23, 2015, also by Nielsen, 57% of users wanted the network operator to improve transmission speed and only 55% of users were satisfied with 3G service.

During the 3G price increase in October 2013, network operators said that the average planned price for 2013 for 3G services was 167.66 VND/MB (excluding VAT) and 184.4 VND/MB (including VAT). Meanwhile, the average price on the market was 100 VND/MB (including VAT), only 54% of the price. The average price after this adjustment was 111 VND/MB, only 34.9% of the price in the ASEAN region (318 VND).

Relatively compared to per capita income (GNI), Vietnam's 3G tariff (4.8 USD) is only 18% (prepaid) and 27% (postpaid) of the world average, and 34% (prepaid) and 57% (postpaid) of the Asia-Pacific region. Network operators have cited these figures and argued that Vietnam's 3G tariff is the cheapest, so the price increase at that time (October 2013) was reasonable.

However, according to many telecommunications experts, each country has different 3G network infrastructure, number of subscribers, living standards, incomes, etc. The 3G network speed in Japan, Korea, etc. is completely superior to that in Vietnam, so the claim that domestic 3G rates are cheaper is just a reference and cannot be used as a basis for price increases. Not to mention that after several years of implementation, no network operator has officially announced specific information about the infrastructure, quality, speed, etc. of the 3G network in actual use, whether it meets the standards as they committed or not. The management agency has not yet had any public, specific measurement reports on the real quality of 3G services in Vietnam.

The director of a phone supermarket in Ho Chi Minh City wondered: “Compared to Asian countries, 3G rates in Vietnam are cheaper and have wide coverage. However, the 3G network speed is still unstable, sometimes low, sometimes high, and the fee is deducted very quickly, causing frustration for users. Many users have already activated the 3G service when buying a SIM card, so they are deducted without knowing it. The customer service department is very slow in handling and answering customer questions, which is not satisfactory. Therefore, users demand that if 3G rates increase, the quality must also increase.”

According to NLDO