Survey findings raise fear of 3G fee increase in Vietnam

Subscribers of the third generation mobile telecommunications technology in the Southeast Asian country have almost no complaint about its service quality, according to a survey conducted by German research firm GfK and Buu Dien Vietnam (Vietnam Post) newspaper.

Fifty-five percent of the surveyed subscribers said the 3G fee, currently set at VND70,000 a month for the unlimited data plan, is acceptable, whereas 84 percent believed service quality lives up to its price, the survey reveals.

Eighty-two percent of the respondents said they will continue using 3G services when the fee is increased by less than five percent, whereas only eight percent said any price hike is unacceptable.

Fifty-nine percent said they will switch to cheaper data plan if the increase is between five and ten percent.

In case of an over ten percent hike, 47 percent of those surveyed said they would change to another service provider.

The survey also finds that 16 percent of subscribers want to have larger connection coverage, while 15 percent suggest lowering the subscription fee.

The survey result is under question as it is drawn from only 576 subscribers from three major Vietnamese cities, including Hanoi in the north, Da Nang in the central region, and Ho Chi Minh City in the south.

Many people doubt that a sample set of 576 people does not represent dozens of millions of 3G users, and more than 100 million of mobile phone subscribers countrywide.

However, Dinh Ngoc Bao Tran, a Vietnamese representative of GfK, assured that the survey findings are objective.

GfK has its own standards in carrying out the survey, whose results also meet sociological requirements, Tran confirmed.

Le Nam Thang, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications, said the survey should only be considered as an information channel about Vietnam’s 3G market, as its result does not represent situation in the country’s remote areas.

Paving the way for fee increase?

The 3G fee in Vietnam is among the cheapest in the world, Information and Communications Minister Nguyen Bac Son told a government meeting on Saturday, when asked about the accuracy of the survey result, and the possibility of a 3G fee increase.

“We have invested heavily for the 3G infrastructure but have yet to raise the fee,” he said, adding increasing the fee is “obviously necessary” for better infrastructure investment.

The minister said if the increase complies with the law, it is necessary and thus should be supported.

Vietnam hiked 3G subscription fees twice in 2013.

Another factor that keeps consumers skeptical of the survey’s findings is that it is sponsored by three biggest mobile carriers in Vietnam, namely Vinaphone, MobiFone, and Viettel.