Mobile service providers fret over stricter regulations
Mobile phone service providers are concerned a proposal to tighten the management of prepaid accounts could hurt their business.
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Ministerial inspectors submitted the proposal to the Ministry of Information and Communications after an inspection last year found a number of mobile service retailers violating regulations.
The inspection, which investigated 328 service retailers in five provinces, found more than half of them flouting registration rules.
Chief inspector Nguyen Thanh Hai said many retailers had activated prepaid SIM cards to collect commissions from service providers before actually selling the cards to customers.
According to Hai, the inspectors proposed that the ministry ban such commissions from service providers to retailers.
They also suggested that providers be prohibited from offering promotional discounts or free minutes to customers until they had put money into their account at least three times.
The ban was suggested as many users take advantage of new customer promotions by simply buying new numbers rather than re-filling their accounts.
He also said the ministry should ban flexible SIM cards, which allow retailers to register subscriber information, top off accounts and issue new SIM cards without ever consulting the providers. The cards were issued by providers in a bid to expand retail networks.
The inspectors also proposed that the ministry regulate promotion campaigns and don’t allow discounts to get too big.
They also suggested retailers and service providers stop supplying services to prepaid subscribers that register incorrect information.
But they gave no details on how this could be accomplished.
Providers protest
Deputy director of Viettel Telecom, Bui Quang Tuyen, said a ban on flexible SIM cards would hurt retailers.
A MobiFone official opposed the ban on new customer promotions.
“These promotions have nothing to do with the management of prepaid subscribers,” he said.
Pham Ngoc Tu, deputy sale manager of VinaPhone, said the ministry should limit the number of mobile numbers per person.
But Tuyen said it would be difficult to regulate such limits as “the data from different mobile phone networks are not connected, it would be impossible to tell if new subscribers were already subscribers at other networks.”
Market messiness
Regulating and limiting promotion campaigns could hurt consumers by making mobile service more expensive, said a telecommunications expert.
“It would reduce demand,” he said. “The ministry should consider the issue carefully because consumer rights may be at issue here.”
In the wake of the proposed tightening of regulations, providers MobiFone and Viettel have announced a reduction in their promotional rates for prepaid SIM cards.
MobiFone said they would now only offer VND55,000 (US$3.15) in free minutes for each VND65,000 SIM card beginning March 13. The previous promotional rate was VND95,000 ($5.44).
Meanwhile, Viettel said it will issue VND65,000 in free time instead of VND95,000 per VND65,000 SIM Card beginning March 15.
Two cell-phone users in Hanoi. Mobile phone service providers have said a proposal to tighten the management of prepaid accounts could hurt their business.
VietNamNet/TN
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