October 2,2012: HANOI – Vietnam Television (VTV) and the Vietnam Pay Television Association (VNPayTV) have petitioned relevant authorities not to grant business licenses to telecom firms to join the local cable television industry.
The move came after Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), Viettel and FPT Corporation announced plans to join the cable television sector.
VTV and VNPayTV said in the petition that investment of the three groups into the industry is out of their core business areas. They said that if relevant authorities issue licenses to the new members, it is just a waste of public money.
However, certain officials and experts disagree with the television association’s stance.
Pham Hong Hai, head of the Telecom Agency under the Ministry of Information and Communications, said that if the three telecom companies make investment in the cable television sector, it is still not non-core investment. Based on their technical infrastructure available at home, the more services enterprises in the cable television industry offer, the better the industry will be, he said.