3G price increase - Is it a violation of competition law?

(Baonghean) - Although focusing on monitoring the storm and flood situation in the Central provinces, the public and those interested are still "shocked" by the recent announcement of the decision to increase 3G rates by 3 "network operators": Viettel, VinaPhone and MobiFone. Accordingly, from October 16, 2013, 3G rates of the above 3 "network operators" will simultaneously increase by an average of 20%, in which some packages will increase by up to 40%. According to information from press agencies, this decision was accepted by the Department of Telecommunications (Ministry of Information and Communications).

It is known that before increasing or decreasing the price of a product, manufacturers and traders must calculate from product quality, market demand to the competitive environment... That means being very meticulous from input to output to decide on a new price, so that it is suitable for the market, accepted by the market. All is how to make the effectiveness of that decision bring the most benefit to manufacturers and traders. In the case of all 3 "network operators" Viettel, VinaPhone and MobiFone increasing 3G rates as present, if there is such calculation, it is not strange.

But the strange thing is: Why did these three "brothers" Viettel, VinaPhone and MobiFone, which account for 97% of the 3G market share, simultaneously "call" for a price increase, simultaneously propose an equivalent increase; and all received approval from the Department of Telecommunications (Ministry of Information and Communications) on the same day? And even stranger is that when explaining to the press at a recent press conference, although each of them answered differently, in the end, all three "brothers" sounded similar.

All three believe that,Their billing cycles all fall on the 1st and 16th of each month, so when there is a directive from the competent authority, the networks choose the next milestone to adjust the price. That is a coincidence. That all 3 "brothers" did not have any discussion or agreement, there was no handshake or footshake; that the 3G price in our country is only 30-65% of the service cost. It is not yet known how all 3 did not join hands to increase the price, but to say that compared to the region it is still cheap, the 3 businesses above should remember that our average income per capita is far behind some countries in the region.

According to the reports of the 3 "network operators" above, 80% of the cost of 3G services is being calculated on infrastructure, while most of the telecommunications equipment must be imported from abroad. Representatives of the 3 network operators all added that there is a roadmap for adjusting 3G rates, and this price is still below the cost (?).

Indeed, listening to the “confessions” of the three “brothers” Viettel, VinaPhone and MobiFone, I remember the “big guys” of petrol and oil, every time they want to increase prices, they always complain of losses. And, although the State has specific regulations on the time of increase (or decrease) compared to the time of world petrol and oil prices, when increasing, these “guys” do it very quickly. When decreasing, they just take their time, reduce it gradually and very little compared to increasing prices.

No matter how representatives of Viettel, VinaPhone and MobiFone explain, with the above phenomena, it is easy for everyone to see that they are "united" to pick the pockets of consumers. And it feels like the phenomenon of "monopoly" in this field is tending to return? If this happens, it will have a significant impact on the people in general and consumers in particular. Because very simply, with 97% of the 3G market share, people have no other way to avoid it, even if the price is even higher. Except boycotting this service.

According to Decree 116/2005/CP on the implementation of a number of articles of the Competition Law, enterprises and groups of enterprises with a dominant market position are not allowed to increase prices by more than 5% at a time; or more than 5% multiple times in 60 consecutive days when there are no unusual fluctuations that increase the cost of production, goods and services. So this time, is the 3G fee of the above 3 networks increased by 20% or more, is it a violation of the Competition Law?

Viet Long