The broadband Internet market (ADSL) in Vietnam is still considered to have significant potential. According to telecommunications experts, the number of ADSL subscriptions is expected to increase by approximately 170% each year.
Although there are many Internet Service Providers (ISPs), the top three that remain dominant are VDC, FPT, and Viettel. Two out of these three providers have launched new strategies to attract customers starting from June 1st.
Faster Download Speeds!
As of June 1st, FPT Telecom officially offers Internet access services via Fiber To The Home (FTTH). This service has been under trial by FPT Telecom since December 2005. While ADSL uses copper cables, FTTH employs fiber optic connections from the provider to the customer’s premises, featuring a static IP address.
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| Broadband Internet will facilitate the development of enhanced online services – Photo: T.L |
Fiber optics have the advantage of being immune to interference over distance, electromagnetic interference, and are less affected by weather conditions. Furthermore, FTTH bandwidth can reach up to 1 Gigabit per second (compared to only MegaBits per second for copper cables), resulting in superior quality. Another benefit of FTTH technology is that it offers equal download and upload speeds (the highest FTTH package provided by FPT Telecom currently offers minimum download and upload speeds of 20Mbps).
“FTTH is the latest technology available globally, with Japan and South Korea being the two leading countries in broadband adoption. With FTTH technology, service providers can offer speeds up to 10 Gigabits per second, while ADSL 2+ can only support 20 Megabits per second download (over 200 times slower),” said Mr. Dang Hong Minh, Head of Broadband Internet at FPT Telecom.
According to Mr. Dang Hong Minh, this upload speed is particularly suitable for companies needing data transmission or online gaming services. He anticipates that FTTH will gradually replace ADSL in the near future once ADSL bandwidth becomes insufficient for simultaneous online services.
However, to use FTTH, consumers will need to invest a significant amount of money. The fees (excluding VAT) for this service as proposed by FPT Telecom are as follows: 8 million VND for service initiation (including customer terminal equipment – optical CPE), with monthly subscription fees ranging from 3 million to 15 million VND (depending on the service package with varying Internet access speeds). Therefore, the idea that FTTH will gradually replace ADSL by providers seems to be a long-term prospect.
Significant ADSL Price Reductions
From June 1st, the ADSL service fees (MegaVNN package) of VDC will be reduced by 1% to 12.5%. Subscription fees will vary based on the package the customer uses, with the lowest being 28,000 VND/month and the highest being 500,000 VND/month. Access fees will be calculated in two ways: based on usage volume, sending, and receiving, or as a flat rate, paid monthly for unlimited service, regardless of usage volume.
Additionally, VDC has introduced a new package with a static IP address for businesses called Mega VNN Pro, which has a monthly subscription fee of 500,000 VND. VDC has also adjusted the maximum speed of existing packages to a minimum of 512Kbps/256Kbps. With these new prices, VDC expects that by 2006, the number of regular MegaVNN users will significantly increase, potentially reaching 250,000 subscriptions by the end of the year (doubling the current figure).
The price reduction by VDC has not caused concern among other providers. FPT Telecom, Viettel, and SaigonPostel (SPT) all offer ADSL packages with lower fees. Specifically, if considering only the monthly subscription fee, SPT has a package for 17,000 VND; FPT offers a package for 20,000 VND, and Viettel has a package for 18,000 VND…
Therefore, these providers believe they cannot lower prices further in the immediate future because these prices have already reached the “floor.” However, for many customers, the most important factor is not the price but the quality and after-sales service offered by the providers.
THUY LU
