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| Vietnamese telecom service providers are urged to focus on value-added services to follow international trends. — Photo congtyhost.vn |
HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — Developing value-added services is a must for telecom service providers to survive, as voice mail and SMS are no longer reeling in high profits, Le Nam Thang, deputy minister of the Information and Telecommunications, said at a seminar held yesterday in HCM City .
"Vietnamese telecom service providers must focus on value-added services. It is an international trend thanks to significant development of technology and domination of over-the-top content (OTT)," he said.
The seminar on value-added services development was organised by the Viet Nam Mobile Telecom Services (MobiFone).
With more than 40 million mobile telephone subscribers, and a market share of 30 per cent, MoiFone saw the turnover proportion of 61 value-added services increase from 17.1 per cent in 2008 to more than 33 per cent in September.
"Within the next two years, we would like to co-operate with value-added services providers in mobile applications, mobile e-commerce, mobile advertising, mobile entertainment, machine-to-machine (M2M) and enterprises solution," Mai Van Binh, chairman of MobiFone, said.
One-third of the e-commerce transactions in the US were carried out on mobile devices.
Mobile advertising worldwide has nearly doubled, from $10 billion in 2012 up to $19 billion in 2013.
Viet Nam's young population, with 40 per cent under 24 years old, has contributed to the development of e-commerce in the country.
Of the more than 130 million mobile subscribers in the country, 27 million are 3G subscribers. Data usage via tablets and smartphones has increased by 25 per cent in recent years.
"Value-added services cover not only telecommunications and mobile service industry but also many different aspects of life, such as banking, agriculture, healthcare and public administration. This is the big chance to bring technology to people in their daily lives," deputy minister Thang said.
More than 300 local value-added services providers along with international hardware manufacturers took part in the seminar. — VNS