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EVN Telecom staff demonstrate the company's services to customers. Ha Noi Telecom Corp has again proposed purchasing EVN's 3G broadband and network infrastructure. — VNA/VNS Photo Trang Duong |
HA NOI — Ha Noi Telecom Corp, which owns Vietnammobile, has again submitted a proposal to the Prime Minister to purchase 3G broadband and network infrastructure from faltering EVN Telecom.
It said EVN Telecom, a subsidiary of the Viet Nam Electricity Group (EVN), should not be allowed to merge with Viettel, one of the largest mobile providers in the country, because it would become a monopoly.
A representative from Hutchison Telecom, a partner of Ha Noi Telecom, said the muted merger would boost Viettel's market share and give it an unfair advantage over small mobile providers.
The telecom market is currently dominated by MobiFone, Vinaphone and Viettel.
Ha Noi Telecom and Hutchison Telecom said they had signed a strategic roaming agreement with EVN Telecom through Vietnammobile, which enabled it to offer 3G broadband.
Hutchison Telecom also asked the Prime Minister to review their US$1 billion investment in Vietnammobile.
Ha Noi Telecom has submitted a plan to purchase debt-ridden EVN Telecom.
Meanwhile, Viettel recently rejected the merger proposal by Ha Noi Telecom based on buying back EVN Telecom shares in relation to its 3G broad band network and remaining debt. The group said it had instead proposed acquiring EVN Telecom's entire infrastructure.
Experts in the telecommunications sector said that small mobile providers such as Ha Noi Telecom, Sai Gon Postel, Beeline, FPT Telecom, Vishipel and CMC Telecom would be unable to compete with the big players if the acquisition took place.
They said the proposal would give EVN Telecom and Viettel a monopoly in the domestic telecom market in the 3G sector, which is expected to boom next year.
If the handover took place, Viettel, which has the largest market share, would have 33,000 kilometres of fibre-optic and trans-Asia sea fibre-optic cables.
The infrastructure would help the provider not only boost its existing telecom services but also multimedia services to households.
EVN had initially planned to sell its telecom arm earlier this year due to bad debt. At the time, FPT software requested permission to acquire EVN Telecom with a deposit of VND780 billion (US$37.1 million). However, the purchase fell through because of regulatory changes. — VNS
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