LookAtVietnam Bridge – The Ministry of Information and Communications yesterday granted a licence to Ha Noi Telecom to provide a GSM mobile-phone service until 2018.

The move follows Ha Noi People's Committee's decision in March to allow Ha Noi Telecom to change from its existing CDMA (Code Multiple Division Access) to GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) technology.

The fledgling mobile carrier, which trades under the name HT Mobile, is a joint venture between Ha Noi Telecom and Hutchison Telecommunication.

In March it said it would stump up an additional $150mil - on top of its initial investment of US$650mil - for the network change.

Ha Noi Telecom said one of the major reasons for HT Mobile's failure was the shortage of CDMA-enabled handsets on the market, especially when compared with the easy availability of GSM enabled handsets.

The Ha Noi-based company, which debuted in January last year, currently has just 200,000 subscribers, against its initial target of one million users after one year of operations.

HT Mobile said it would help its existing subscribers change to other networks or continue to use HT Mobile networks when the technology transfer is completed by the end of this year.

HT Mobile on January 9 asked the Ministry of Information and Communications for a licence to change from the CDMA to GSM network. Twenty days later, the Government agreed in principle to the change.

Vietnam has six mobile carriers. S-Fone, HT Mobile and EVN Telecom utilise CDMA technology, while Viettel, Vinaphone and Mobifone use GSM. There are 2.5bil GSM subscribers against 500,000mil CDMA subscribers worldwide.

(Source: Viet Nam News)