Chuck Kuhn's Asia in Photos: Vietnam to Clamp Down on Subscriber Base Misreporting

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Vietnam to Clamp Down on Subscriber Base Misreporting

Following confusion and disputes in Vietnam over mobile subscriber numbers, the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) has announced that it is to conduct an audit of the operators this month and publish a definitive list of how many subscribers each operator has.
Over the past couple of years, the Vietnamese operators have had - sometimes heated - disputes over how many customers each of them has and which operator can claim to be the largest in the country. In 2006 VinaPhone and MobiFone both claimed to have the top spot - while Viettel which had been in third position suddenly seemed to end the year in first place.
MobiFone and Viettel have recently renewed the cudgels and are again both claiming to be the top operator.
Nguyen Xuan Tru, Vice Head of the MoIC’s Communication Agency, said that the mobile networks have reported inaccurate statistics of subscribers because they apply different methods of calculation. The audit by the ministry will use just one methodology - still to be decided - to decide if a SIM card connection is active or not.
Estimates from the Mobile World analysts put the rankings as at the end of last year as three GSM networks leading - Viettel (10.4m) and MobiFone (9.9m) and VinaPhone (9.1m) followed by two CDMA operators, S-Fone (3.4m) and VP Telecom (2.8m). HT Mobile is migrating from CDMA to GSM and has a negligible number of subscribers. It is worth noting that none of the GSM operators has launched 3G services, while both the CDMA networks have nearly 800,000 EV-DO capable subscribers between them.

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They say "

“I can’t say what made me fall in love with Vietnam - that a woman’s voice can drug you; that everything is so intense. The colors, the taste, even the rain. Nothing like the filthy rain in London. They say whatever you’re looking for, you will find here. They say you come to Vietnam and you understand a lot in a few minutes, but the rest has got to be lived. The smell: that’s the first thing that hits you, promising everything in exchange for your soul. And the heat. Your shirt is straightaway a rag. You can hardly remember your name, or what you came to escape from. But at night, there’s a breeze. The river is beautiful. You could be forgiven for thinking there was no war; that the gunshots were fireworks; that only pleasure matters. A pipe of opium, or the touch of a girl who might tell you she loves you. And then, something happens, as you knew it would. And nothing can ever be the same again.”
― Graham Greene, The Quiet American

Tips on Travel to Vietnam

It's always warm in Southeast Asia apart from high mountains, so leave the heavy clothing at home. Cotton and breathable fabrics are always better than synthetics -- although cotton does wrinkle a lot when traveling! December through April is roughly the dry season in that region, although it can still rain a little. December is a good time to go in terms of temperature -- cooler than in the humid summertime. Either way, wearing more clothing (shirt sleeves and long pants) is always more respectful towards the Asian culture, especially when visiting temples and rural areas.