"This means that new mobile phone networks in Vietnam will have to be 3G," said Nguyen Xuan Tru, deputy director of the ministry's Telecoms Department. He added that Vietnam has enough frequency bands for four 3G mobile networks.

So far, no mobile operators in Vietnam have moved to 3G technologies except for Vietnam Posts & Telecoms Corp. (VNPT), which has applied to provide 3G services on a trial basis.

According to the Vietnam-US bilateral trade pact (BTA) that took effect in December 2001, foreign investors could own as much as 50% of Internet service joint ventures three years after the BTA took effect and 49% of telecommunications joint venture four years after the BTA took effect. To date Vietnam has attracted US$ 1.5 billion worth of foreign direct investment to building telecommunications infrastructure. All of the investment is in the form of business cooperation contracts.

Source: Vietnam News Brief Service