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Big 3G hurdle to be cleared |
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30-JUN-2009 Intellasia | Vietnam Investment Review page 8 |
30 Jun, 2009 - 7:00:00 AM |
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The 3G licence mobile contest winners appear ready to clear another hurdle in their 3G quest. Viettel, VNPT (VinaPhone), MobiFone and a Hanoi Telecom and EVN Telecom partnership will meet this week's deadline to deposit capital with the Ministry of Information and Communications.
The EVN Telecom and Hanoi Telecom partnership deposited 600 billion dong ($35.2 million) last week, after recently signing a 10-year strategic cooperation agreement.
The agreement will enable the two sides to cooperate in installing common usage infrastructure, with 2,500 base transceiver stations in the first year and 5,000 stations three years after receiving the licence. Each party will take responsibility for installing half of the stations and the two sides will also cooperate in offering 3G services.
"EVN Telecom now has 3,000 base transceiver stations and will install an additional 800 stations to ensure 3G services will be offered nine months after receiving the licence, or in the first quarter of 2010," said Duong Quang Thanh, deputy general director of EVN' EVN Telecom's parent company.
"EVN Telecom is also in discussions with partners from Italy, the Philippines and other financial institutions on cooperating with us in running businesses," said Thanh.
Meanwhile, G-Tel will hook up with VNPT - VinaPhone to provide 3G services. G- Tel, a joint venture between Global Telecom Corp and Vimpelcom, will launch its network in mid-July, nearly two years after receiving the licence.
Bui Quoc Viet, director of VNPT's Information Centre, said VinaPhone and MobiFone's network investments and 3G deposits were estimated at 50 trillion dong ($2.9 billion). VinaPhone and G-Tel were negotiating cooperation terms after VinaPhone received its licence.
Due to the commitment, MobiFone will be the first in Vietnam to offer 3G services three months after receiving the licence. MobiFone has signed a cooperation agreement with Orange France Telecom to provide services. Meanwhile, another arm of VNPT, VinaPhone, has had talks with different foreign mobile service providers such as NTT Docomo and Vodafone to cooperate in providing services.
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