Synopsis

Vietnam initially fell well short of the ambitious targets it set for the wider expansion of its
telecommunications infrastructure. However, after reviewing its approach and introducing some
competition into the market, this socialist oriented market economy has built a fresh growth momentum.
The mobile market has been especially dynamic; internet is now certainly on the move, with broadband
internet having taken off at last.

The previously heavy reliance on DSL is changing with the wider deployment of wireless broadband
services. And the significant presence of fixed-line services (tele density of 17%)2014, throughout the
country has been against the global trend for a developing economy; although its also noted that the fixed
line numbers have declined slightly in recent years. In the meantime, the continuing government
involvement in the telecom sector still raises major questions about its commitment to deregulation and
liberalization. The administration seems to be finding it hard to let go.

Vietnam's economy is expected to expand 5.8 percent in 2014, in line with a government target and faster
than last year. The Southeast Asian country is expected to keep annual inflation at a rate below 5 percent,
or about 2 percentage points below a government target.
After growing 5.42 percent in 2013, Vietnam's economy has been expanding faster this year, with the
third quarter's annualized growth quickening to 6.19 percent, from 5.42 percent in the second quarter and
5.09 percent in the first three months, government data show.

Key developments:

Vietnams broadband market has been growing strongly;

Mobile broadband services are increasingly popular;

The mobile market had reached a penetration of 130% by 2013; and Estimated a 191% by the end
of 2014.

Despite some rationalization of the industry, operators will continue to find a competitive
situation; Viettel acquired and took control of EVN Telecom;

Vietnams second telecom satellite, Vinasat-2, has been successfully launched;

The MIC fined mobile operators for not correctly managing the registration of subscribers;

The MIC also revoked the licenses of service providers for failure to roll out networks in time

The MIC issued a set of digital TV standards ahead of the planned digitalization.

Backbone:
Vietnams national backbone Network consists of multiple fiber optic cables. VNNIC reports that the
country backbone has 737 Gbps domestic capacity, as of April 2014.This is a significant increase from
the 557 Gbps of capacity a year earlier. While there are now multiple owners an operators, Vietnams
backbone infrastructure was traditionally managed and owned by VTN, a subsidiary of the largest
operator, VNPT. VNPT is still one of the largest owners of backbone networks. Alongside Viettel, the
Army-owned-and operated operator. FPT, Saigon Postel, Gtel, and other smaller providers also own and
operate some portion of the backbone.
While we quote the statistics above, its acknowledged that accurate statistics and Breakdowns of
capacity and ownership pare hard to come by, due in part to a combination of business and government
secrecy, and to a habit of some of the larger Providers to inflate their holdings and projections to appear
bigger in the eyes of the world. For example, in 2012, FPT, one of the three large, state-owned operators
, announced the launch of its own North-South backbone cable system from Lang Sonto to Ca Mau.

List of Telecom Operators :

Services

Number of operators

Fixed telephone services

10

Mobile communications Services (2G)

Mobile communications services (3G)

Mobile Virtual Network Operator
(MVNO)

Market Share for Mobile Phones :

Operators
VNPT, Viettel, SPT, FPT, VTC, Dong Duong, CMC TI,
Hanoi Telecom, Gtel.
Vinaphone, MobiFone, VieTtel, Gtel Mobile, EVN
Telecom, SPT, Hanoi Telecom.
Vinaphone, MobiFone, Vietel, EVN Telecom, Hanoi

Telecom.

VTC

The market share of Internet subscribers by the end of 2014 are allocated as follows:

Overview

2012

2013

2014 (Estimated)

2015(Estimated)

Total Telecom
4600

5000

5750

6600

1650

1750

2000

2300

Total Exports

65

75

85

95

Total Imports

3000

3250

3750

4300

102

118

143

182

Market Size
Total Local
Production

Imports from the

India.

Driven by growing income per capita of sophisticated customers and Government of Vietnams plan to
develop its e-government and e-commerce, the countrys telecommunications market is forecast to grow
at 15.5 percent in 2014 and 2015. To meet this continued market growth, Vietnam imports a huge amount
of telecommunication network equipment and terminal devices as Vietnamese manufacturers are still
relatively new and may not be able to offer the same range of solutions and services as foreign suppliers.
This trend has given an exponential growth opportunity to the supplier countries.

To meet tough competition and increasing market demand, Vietnamese telecommunications operators
understand they need to enhance their competitiveness by adopting new technologies and by enhancing
their human resource capabilities. They are seeking considerable technology transfer and know-how via
foreign involvement in the telecommunications sector, while opening up the market at a gradual pace in
line with Vietnams WTO commitments since accession in 2007.

According to Vietnams Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), as of December 2013,

Vietnam has approximately 105 million telephone subscribers (88 million cell phone subscribers and 17
million landline phone subscribers), recording a teledensity of 1.16 lines/inhabitant.

The major technologies used in Vietnam include cable, satellite, and wireless cable. Major broadband
networks are deployed via ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line), VDSL (very high rate digital
subscriber line), and leased lines. Wi-Fi is deployed in the major cities. In terms of network convergence,
voice/data networks are available nation-wide, while triple play networks (voice/data/video) and
broadband services have been growing in the big cities. VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services are
expanding. Telecommunications companies own the Internet infrastructure and provide VoIP services.
There are also several privately owned VoIP providers, all of which lease lines from major telecom
carriers.
As a recent member of the WTO, Vietnam will continue to implement tax cuts as part of its commitments
under the Information Technology Agreement. Specifically, categories formally in a 10 percent bracket
declined to zero percent in 2012 and those in a 20-30 percent bracket will go down evenly reaching zero
percent in 2014.
Excessively rapid growth, including price competition, problems with network connectivity and
indifference to the fixed telephone market could cause some bumps in the road affecting the development
of Vietnams telecommunications industry.
Selection of a local partner is not only essential to maximizing business development opportunities but
also for the provision of certain services, as required pursuant to Vietnams limitations to its WTO
telecommunications market access commitments.
As the hi-tech industry continues to develop in Vietnam, prices will continue to go down, investment
capital will increase and the business environment will become more competitive. As local
telecommunications companies go through the equitization process, foreign telecommunications
companies can approach this emerging market in a step-by-step fashion by taking up equity shares of
local companies.

Best Prospects/Services
Dura-Line should find excellent opportunities in almost every sub-sector, from telecommunications
infrastructure to Water & Gas Applications. However, restricting to our point of interest, below is an
analysis of the major best-prospect sub-sectors of the telecommunications sector in Vietnam.

Fixed Telephone Networks:

As of December 2013, Vietnam has approximately 17 million fixed telephone lines. Telephone access is
currently available to all communities nationwide. State-owned VNPT was the major landline telephone
carrier in this market with market share of nearly 70 percent in 2013 .Ministry of Defense-owned Viettel

was second with 22.31 percent market share. As the traditional PSTN (public switched telephone
network) fixed telephone service is no longer a cash cow subsector, Vietnams telcos are instead
developing wireless fixed telephone service solutions.

Mobile Phone Networks:

At present, there are five licensed cell phone network operators in Vietnam. Nearly 90 percent of the
mobile phone market share in Vietnam is currently divided amongst three major network operators:
Viettel Mobile, MobiFone, and Vinaphone. According to official figures reported by network operators to
MIC, as of 2013, with a population of 90 million, the total number of actual mobile phone subscribers in
Vietnam was nearly 88 million, of which more than 90 percent were pre-paid subscribers. A VNPT senior
representative recently announced that Vietnam is listed in the top 10 countries in the world that have the
highest number of cell phone subscribers, ranked 7th, even above Japan and Germany.
In terms of the technologies used in Vietnams mobile phone networks, all 5 licensed mobile network
operators (VinaPhone, MobiFone, Viettel, Vietnamobile, and GMobile) adopt global systems for mobile
communications (GSM) technology.
At present, Viettel, Mobifone, Vinaphone and VietnamMobile provide 3G (third generation) wireless
technology service. According to industry estimates, Vietnam had approximately 5.17 million 3G
subscribers in 2013. In terms of 4G technology, after one-year of pilot tests of 4G LTE (long term
evolution) by five service providers namely VNPT, Viettel, FPT Telecom, CMC and VTC, MIC
announced that 3.5G and 4G would only be considered for licensing after 2015 and 2018 respectively.

Internet:

The Internet market has also developed rapidly in recent years. Internet usage has increased in popularity
as evidenced by the entry of many Internet service providers (ISPs) into the market.
By the end of 2013, the number of Internet subscribers in Vietnam stood at 31 million, with 34 percent of
the population using the Internet regularly. Presently, the countrys total international and domestic
connection bandwidth are 390,720 Mbps and 500,910 Mbps, respectively. However, Internet density is
not equally spread throughout the country and is concentrated in the urban centers, especially Hanoi and
HCMC. Broadband market demand has increased so rapidly that current market supply is not sufficient to
meet demand. The broadband market is shared among 3 major ISPs: VNPT, FPT and Viettel.

Telecom Ducts Manufacturers In Vietnam :

Binh Minh Plastics Joint Stock Company

Tan Tien Plastic
Rang Dong Plastic
Vietnam Tien Phong Plastic (NTP)
Dong Nai Plastic Construction JSC (DNP)
Dong A Plastic Group (DAG)

Although the above companies manufacture HDPE Telecom Ducts, rarely does any Telecom Operator
use HDPE Ducts for sheathing or casing the Optic Fibre Cables & Ducts. The major use is PVC, uPVC or
PPR ducts.

HDPE Telecom Duct Competitors:

Emtelle (Prysmian)
BaAn
Tien Phong Plastic Joint Stock Co.
National Plastic Joint Stock Company.

Optic Fibre Suppliers to Vietnam:

Warren & Brown Technologies
Furukawa OFS,
Fujikura Ltd.,
Sumitomo Electric,
Prysmian Cables & Systems
Draka Comteq.
Corning

Local line machinery

Blowing Machines Supplier

Blowing Solution Provider :

HDD Machines :

Vermeer
IPEX
Astec
Shenzhen Hongjian Machinery Co., Ltd.

The following are the reasons for using PVC/uPVC/PPR ducts instead of HDPE.
1. Lower cost.
2. Lack of product knowledge.
3. Availability.
4. Lack of Government regulations for product usage.
5. Very few domestic manufacturers of HDPE Telecom Ducts.

Vietnam Exports Incentives.

Conclusion :
Vietnam is a communist country, have military rule. Although they have a huge untapped market,
the Processing is Slow.
Risky Business, However tie-ups with various Companies dealing with Duct Implementation or
distributors can give an edge over this risk.
Economy is unpredictable.