Legal Developments in Mobile Services and Mobile Phone Industry

Vietnam has seen a booming mobile services market. The mobile penetration rate has grown exponentially from just over 20% in 2006 to 80% by 2008. Vietnam has surpassed many of its peers in the sector after its WTO accession in 2007, and the introduction of Law on Telecommunication in 2009 has been an essential development. Just one year after passing the Law on Telecommunication, the government issued the Decree No. 25/2011/ND-CP (Decree 25) as an implementing regulation, which provides some groundbreaking changes to the regulation of the telecommunication sector.

Decree 25 – Telecom Sector Competition

The promotion of competition in Vietnam has helped break down the mobile market into three leading players: Viettel (33.82% market share), Mobiphone (27.15% market share), and Vinaphone (27.19% market share). Article 3 of Decree 25 introduces a new restriction that intends to further fuel competition in the telecom sector. Under the restriction, any entity or