Value-added services are generally considered a driving force for the development of many mobile networks, particularly when subscription growth has declined. During the preparation period for 3G deployment, Vietnamese network providers had equipped themselves with a wide range of value-added services, which could mount up to hundreds of services. However, after nearly 10 years, the market fell short of expectation as a large number of services and various content still failed to attract customers.

According to the latest statistics by the Ministry of Information and Communications  (MIC), nearly 36% of Vietnamese mobile subscribers are used to utilize 3G, and domestic network providers also have begun to change to 4G, making revenues from traditional services continue to fall. Thus, value-added services will continue to be an important revenue generating factor, and service restructuring now has become a “must”, not just a “need” like before.

By January 2017, Vietnam has over 120 million mobile subscribers, and 36% of whom are currently using 3G on mobiles or computers.

One of the main reasons leading to the stagnant growth of the mobile value-added services market is customers’ loss of trust in network providers’ charging methods. Many subscribers have to pay charges for value-added services that they do not register; hence, the keys to market growth are transparent and open charging methods.

In the Monthly State Management Meeting held by MIC on March 6th, 2017, Mr. Pham Duc Long – CEO of VNPT, reaffirmed that a number of content providers (CP) were introducing new services. However, VNPT would temporarily stop providing services whose CP fail to meet SMS authentication process in customers’ registration.

“After implementing the authentication process, we have received great support from customers. Revenues from value-added services may decrease initially, but they will recover quickly. At present, there are some services that have not run double registration, so VNPT has decided to hold off their development. In other words, for services whose CP fail to meet VNPT’s double authentication, VNPT would temporarily stop providing these services”, said Mr. Pham.

In the Monthly Meeting, VNPT was the only telecommunication business to raise this issue.  The group’s strong and tough measures have received considerable support from leaders of MIC.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Trung, Director of Telecommunication Agency, spoke highly of the aforementioned solution proposed by VNPT to protect the rights of customers with value-added services, since it helps prevent customers from paying for unwanted services. Mr. Trung also recommended businesses to strengthen their reviewing and testing systems so that customers only pay for services in usage.

The official implementation of the double authentication process as well as strong measures towards CP are important turning points, which solves the problem of charges from unwanted services. These initiatives also show VNPT’s determination in providing best user experience for customers and becoming a pioneer network provider with the latest, best quality services and the best customer service.

To achieve this goal, besides an attractive revenue structuring policy for high-quality services provided by partners, VNPT will also focus on the development of brand new services in different fields and based on advanced technological platforms.

In 2016, VNPT-Media (VNPT’s leading company in the field of value-added services) had established an R&D team to develop services based on new technologies such as Big Data, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning in order to launch new products in advertisement, e-commerce, health, and education, etc. These services are expected to be launched this year. Value-added services developed by VNPT-Media are products with great creativity, advanced technology, and specialized content; thus, meeting both domestic and foreign demand.

In terms of 4G mobile value-added services, 2017 is expected to be the year when domestic network providers deploy 4G nationwide. As one of the largest value-added services providers for Vietnamese networks, VNPT-Media has equipped the most optimized and high-quality technologies, such as in video compression, image processing, and image identification, etc. to prepare for the introduction of 4G services.