Improving the competitiveness of vietnams telecommunications industry

1 INTRODUCTION Necessity of the thesis Telecommunications industry plays a definitely important role in socio-economic development of Vietnam It is considered as a pivotal technical-economic industry, and also be able to advance quickly by using shortcut in industrialization and modernization process of the country After more than six years of Vietnam WTO accession, the telecommunications industry of Vietnam is holding attraction for foreign investors, and Vietnamese enterprises operating in telecommunications industry also make investment overseas In the past, in spite of its significant development, telecommunications industry also exposes weaknesses, including: high price but poor service quality, asynchronous and unbalanced network infrastructure between rural and urban area, decreasing average income per subcriber, undiversified services, and unprofessional customer services Telecommunications management system and policies have not catched up with rapid development of the industry Especially current competition of telecommunications industry is, in fact, happening among State-owned enterprises operating in telecommunications: Viettel, Vinaphone and Mobifone make up over 90% total number of subscribers, income and network infrastructure Vietnamese telecomunications industry is said to be operating in freemarket; however, in fact it under government monopoly, private industry’s participation is still insignificant Current telecommunications market is no longer goal mine for enterprises to easily exploit, but entering into satureated stage in term of number of mobile subcriber Therefore, competitiveness of Vietnam telecommunications industry has to face many significant difficulties and challenges It is completely necessary to find out a set of know-how techniques which will help managers, policy makers providing solutions for strengthening competitiveness of Vietnam telecommunications industry and make it become a pivotal technical- economic industry From such emergent demand, I select topic “Improving the competitiveness of Vietnam's telecommunications industry” for my thesis Objectives The thesis focuses on main objectives as follow: - To systemize basic theories in association with competitiveness enhancement of the industry in general and in particular for typical telecommunications industry In particular: To conduct researches about competition and competiveness at sectoral level, criteria for assessing competitiveness at sectoral level, criteria for reflecting competitiveness of telecommunications, factors influencing competitiveness of telecommunications industry - To analyze and point out weaknesses, limits of previous researching results related to competitiveness of telecommunications industry in order to identify gaps, shortcomings, issues in term of Vietnam telecommunications industry that have not been addressed in previous researches - To analyze, assess actual competitiveness of Vietnam telecommunications industry for the past time in order to define achievements, shortcomings, advantages and disadvantages of the industry To give answer for the question: How is competitiveness of Vietnam telecommunications industry at present? - To propose opinions, orientation and solutions in order to strengthen competitiveness of Vietnam telecommunications industry Objects and scope of the research 3.1 Object Object of the research is the competitiveness of telecommunications industry of Vietnam However, due to integral relationship of business and manufacturing process of Vietnam telecommunications and economic development, the thesis also includes various factors and conditions for development of related sectors and Vietnam economy 3.2 Scope of the research The research aims at telecommunications enterprises not 100% owned by foreign enterprises which are operating in Vietnam territory and Vietnamese telecommunications enterprises which are making business in foreign markets, regardless of economic sectors In telecommunications, the thesis mainly presents mobile telecommunications, fixed telecommunication and internet, broadband of telecommunications Most of data from 1993 up to now are mainly used for the research Because in this period, development and competition of Vietnam telecommunications according to market mechanism start to be shown, especially data in respect of telecommunications from 2006 up to now when this is the booming of Vietnam telecommunications market, and of period of its definite competition In 2010, mobile telecommunications starts to reach saturation Scientific and practical significance of the thesis * Its contribution in term of theory - Clarifying definitions of the industry, competition, competitiveness and competitiveness of telecommunications industry - Providing set of criteria for presenting competitiveness of telecommunications industry - Applying expanded diamond pattern (of Michael E.Porter John H.Dunning) in order to evaluate six factors making impact on competitiveness of telecommunications industry including strategy, structure and competition in telecommunications industry; demand of telecommunications market; foreign investment; conditions for manufacture input; related industrial sectors and supporting industrial sectors for telecommunications industry; and Government * Practical contributions, proposal obtained from research: - The thesis provides lessons and experience to enhance competitiveness of telecommunications industry applied in countries with the world’s leading telecommunications development such as Taiwan, China, Turkey, Brazil and so on - From analysis of competitiveness of Vietnam telecommunications industry, the thesis draws outstanding results and shortcomings required to be solved in order to identify actual reasons to suggest solutions for competitiveness improvement of Vietnam telecommunications industry - The thesis analyzes and points out opportunities and challenges for Vietnam telecommunications industry which plays very important role to adjust strategy and find out solutions for telecommunications industry development - The thesis provides six groups of solutions for competitiveness enhancement of Vietnam telecommunications industry - The thesis provides solutions for improving competitiveness of the industry Structure of the thesis In addition to introduction, conclusion, reference and appendix, the thesis is divided into four chapters Chapter 1: General overview of scientific works related to the thesis Chapter 2: Rationale for competitiveness of telecommunications industry Chapter 3: Actual situation of competitiveness of Vietnamese telecommunications industry Chapter 4: Orientation and solutions for strengthening competitiveness for Vietnamese telecommunications industry 5 CHAPTER GENERAL OVERVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC WORKS RELATED TO THE THESIS 1.1 Research works closely related to the thesis 1.1.1 Research Works related to theoretics in respect of the industry, competition, and competitiveness at sectoral level - Theoretics in term of the industry: The work of Porter, Institute of Statistical Science Theoretics of competition: relevant research works, opinions, theory from online Vietnamese-language encyclopedias, Syllabus of Marxist-Leninist political economy (2004), OECD Forum (2000) - Theoretics of competitiveness: online Vietnamese-language encyclopedias, OECD (1996), The world economic forum (2006) - Theoretics of competitiveness at sectoral level: United Nations (2001), Van Duren (1991) Michael E.Porter, John H Dunning (1993), Mohammad Hosein Rezazadeh Mehrizi & Mohammad Pakneiat (2008), Yan Ling Yu (2004) Through research works related to factors influencing competitiveness of telecommunications industry, the thesis apply the expanded diamond pattern (based on the pattern of Michael E.Porter) with six key factors including strategy, structure and competition of telecommunications enterprises; conditions of manufacture input; demand of market; role of the government; related industrial sectors and supporting industrial sectors for telecommunications industry 1.1.2 Applying research works on competition, competitiveness of telecommunications industry conducted by scholars and global organizations - Criteria reflecting competitiveness in general: Customer satisfaction ( Sharma & Fisher, 1997; Tracey, Vonderembse & Lim, 1999), market share (Anderson & Soha, 1999; Lau, 2002), growth of market (Tracey, Vonderembse & Lim, 1999), sales figure (Anderson &Sohal, 1999; Li, 2000), growth speed of sales figure (Lau, 2002; Sharma & Fisher, 1997) and labor productivity (Noble, 1997; Ross, 2002; Sharma & Fisher, 1997) - Applying targets, criteria for assessing telecommunications industry of several international organizations: International Telecommunication Union, Business Monitor International 1.1.3 Research works on factors influencing competitiveness at sectoral level 1.1.4 Works related to manufacture and business activities in telecommunications industry - Manufacture and business activities of enterprises providing telecommunications services: PhD thesis related to the topic of authors such as Le Ngoc Minh (2008), Phan Chu Minh (2002) - Telecommunications industry and several industries related to telecommunications industry: Tran ðang Khoa (2007), Hoang Thi Hoan (2004); Report on policy research – VNCI, số 3: Research on competition of Vietnam telecommunications industry completed in June, 2005 Nguyen Huu Dung (2002), Vu Duc Dạm (1996); Report on Viet Nam ICT Index - Policies, regulations to telecommunications fields: Tran Van Thinh, Ha Noi (2007), Tran Duc Lai (2004) - Role of telecommunications industry to socio-economic development: Mai The Nhuong, Nguyen Xuan Vinh, Nguyen Ngo Viet, Le Dac Quang, Nguyen Huong Lan (2000) - Varying trend of telecommunications industry: Nguyen Ngo Viet (1999), Nguyen Van Minh (2001) 1.1.5 Construction works relating to lessons for improvement of competitiveness of telecommunications industry Li & Xu (2004), Chao – Chung Kang (2009), Becky P.Y Loo (2004), C’esar Mattos & Paulo Coutinho (2005), Abeysinghe & Paul (2005), Necmiddin Bagdadioglu & Murat Cetinkaya (2010) 7 Through researching and surveying domestic and foreign documents relating to competitiveness of telecommunications industry, it is easy to see that these researches have significantly contributed into the formation of theoretical foundation for the industry’s competitiveness, other affecting factors and criteria for assessment, developing trends, lessons on reformation for improvement of competitiveness in telecommunications of other countries over the world, etc However, there has not been any research conducted thoroughly and systematically on competitiveness in Vietnam telecommunications, especially from 2006 up to present, after the integration of Vietnam into WTO - Concept of competitiveness: competitiveness shall be understood as an entity’s ability to control, make use of advantages and resourcesto have more effective and bigger result in comparison with the last period and with competitors 1.2 Thesis objectives The thesis gives answer to main researching questions as follows: What factors affect competitiveness of telecommunications industry? What criteria are used to assess it? What is the current situation of Vietnam telecommunications industry? What can be done to improve the competitiveness of Vietnam telecommunications? 1.3 Research methods The thesis uses methods of statistical analysis, comparison and synthetization from statistics of telecommunications industry to measure and evaluate its competitiveness Besides, the thesis uses case study and observation CHAPTER THEORETICAL BASES IN COMPETITIVE BASE OF VIETNAM TELECOMMUNICATIONS 2.1 Concept of competitiveness and sector competitiveness - Concept of competition: Competition means to compete, to seek all ways, measures and means to survive, to define one’s advantages beyond his/her competitor, other suppliers in pros, results, fame, benefits, social status or other things that are desired by all parties 2.2 Application in researching competitiveness of Vietnam telecommunications 2.2.1 Concept of competitiveness of telecommunications industry Competitiveness of Vietnam telecommunications industry: It means the ability of changing structure, mechanism of internal telecommunications industry to establish and maintain stable development of the sector, improve service quality provided by sector corporates, aiming to be better and more competitive in accordance with the market mechanism Therefore, Vietnam telecommunications industry shall be able to attract capital investment, technology transferring, domestic and oversea human resources 2.2.2 Characteristics and services of telecommunications and the importance of improving competitiveness of Vietnam telecommunications industry * Basic characteristic of telecommunications industry: Telecommunications industry has basic characteristics: Being a new and strongly developing industry; heavy capital investment, complicated infrastructure and vast network; Applying high and complicated science technologies, changing rapidly; Having products with short product life cycle; Having multidimensional connected services * Main services of telecommunications industry: This thesis focuses on studying further of three main basic and backbone services of telecommunications industry, which are fixed telecommunications, mobile telecommunications and Internet * Importance of improving competitiveness of Vietnam telecommunications industry: Vietnam telecommunications play more and more important role in socio-economic development Being 10 an important technical economic sector for the modernization of the country, Vietnam telecommunications industry is becoming saturated Attracting investment capital is a vital condition to improve competitiveness of telecommunications industry 2.2.3 Determination of factors affecting telecommunications industry’s competitiveness The thesis uses open diamond model as determining base for factors affecting the competitiveness of telecommunications industry potential of telecommunications industry (ICT-OI) Each of them shall have specific target for assessment Strategies, structures and domestic competitiveness of the Company Foreign investme nt CHAPTER CURRENT SITUATION OF COMPETITIVENESS OF VIETNAMESE TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY 3.1 Relating and supporting industries Lessons from other countries over the world in improving competitiveness of telecommunications industry Firstly, gradually reduce control and intervention of the Government in telecommunications industry by boosting capitalization in telecommunications corporates owned by the state Secondly, enhance calling out and open to foreign investors participating in Vietnamese telecommunications industry Thirdly, telecommunications policies should focus on regulating the market in a free way Demand Production conditions Milestones of Vietnam telecommunications industry’s development Vietnam telecommunications industry has been through stages: Exclusive telecommunications period (Prior to 1996), Opening market period with competitive environment (1996 – 2006), World integration period (from 2006 up to present) Gover nment Figure 2.2 Diamond model applied for the project 2.2.4 2.2.5 3.2 Analysis on current competitiveness telecommunications capacity 3.2.1 Analyzing competitiveness telecommunications industry in following criteria: Determination of criteria showing competitiveness of telecommunications industry Criteria showing competitiveness of telecommunications industry include groups: number of subscribers of telecommunications industry, revenue, quality of rendered services to meet the demand of customers, criteria on labor productivity and criteria on developing - of Vietnam of Vietnam accordance with Criteria on subscribers of telecommunications industry: Through analysis in fixed and mobile services in telecommunications industry and internet, it is shown that in recent years, number of subscribers in internet, fixed and mobile telecommunications has rapidly increased However, 11 - - - - a remaining issue in all three fields is that the Government controls and occupies the market Obviously, State-owned telecom corporates has been controlling and taking the lead in the game and in competitiveness of telecommunications industry The competitiveness in telecommunications is actually the competition among State-owned telecommunications corporates Telecommunications industry has not had competitiveness in market mechanism due to small and weak private sectors Criteria on revenue of telecommunications industry: The whole industry’s revenue has increased rapidly The revenue of three State-owned corporates under Viettel and VNPT corporations (Mobifone and Vinaphone) took control in the market of Vietnam telecommunications in the last years These three corporates take lead and control of the market in both number of subscribers, revenue and profits The other companies in the field are too small so that they have to follow these three giants Revenue structure in telecommunications services has shifted in a positive way ARPU is low and tends to decrease Criteria on rendered services’ quality: The quality of Vietnam telecommunications services is gradually improved but not good enough, services rendering in the market are poor and lack of creativity, and the number of unidentified subscribers still account for a large percentage Those are obstacles in enhancing competitiveness among products of telecommunications industry Criteria on labor productivity: Labor productivity of telecommunications industry in recent years continues to increase quickly, some corporates with very high labor productivity have emerged and become the leading ones, such as: Mobifone and Viettel Criteria on developing potential of telecommunications industry: In comparison with other countries in the region, Vietnam’s opportunities are disadvantageous and low with many remaining developing potentials in approaching and 12 developing information technology market in general and telecommunications in particular This shows that it is necessary to enhance competitiveness in information technology and telecommunications in the near future to shorten the gaps with other countries in the region and over the world 3.2.2 General assessment of competitiveness for Vietnamese Telecommunication industry during last time: Based on analysis of the real current competitiveness of Vietnam Telecommunication, the thesis presents achievements and limitations of Telecommunication’s competitiveness (1) Advantages and Achievements: - Attract many telecommunication enterprises and foreign investors With the emergence and increasing participation of foreign investors into the domestic telecommunications market, telecommunications industry will be modernized because many telecommunications giants in the world will stream into Vietnam with technology , financial resources, knowledge and broad experience to deploy telecommunications infrastructure which is one of essential point of Vietnam - Telecommunications high growth rate Although Vietnam is a poor country and under the process of development, Vietnam's telecommunications industry has witnessed a great progress for just over years; the telecommunications industry has had impressive growth with the explosion of mobile telecommunications and the Internet inwhich broadband also has a impressive breakthrough with the continuously increasing rate of broadband users - Positive restructuring of income The income of telecommunications service and the Internet increases, while income of fixed telephone service tend to fall; the proportion of mobile service revenue accounted for a large number, more than 90% This reflects the positive trend of the telecommunications market; although mobile phones and the Internet appeared after the 13 14 fixed telephones, they gained the dominant advantage in the market due to their convenience, modern technology, and cheaper price - Increasing labor productivity Labor productivity of telecommunications industry in general and enterprises in particular had high growth and achieved good results, although it does not prevail that of other indutries - Service quality improved step by step The telecommunications industry has grown quickly, but the quality of service does not accompany with that growth There are still low call quality, slow connection, broken connection, and impossible connection But recently, network providers have committed for more invsetment together with the tight control of govermental management agencies in the measurement of service quality, which enhance the service quality of the telecommunications industry - Diverse types of services and contents to meet higher customers’ requirements High growth rate, limited scale of the market, more and more providers appearing are three motivating factors for network providers to improve their competitiveness by reducing price, improving quality, upgrading products with diverse content, image and value added services (VAS) on mobile telecommunication network and in the Internet to maintain current customers and attract more new customers, then increase revenue and market share (2) Disadvantages and limitations - High growth without deep investment; saturated subscription of mobile telecommunications After a period of rapid development and explosion, from 2010 Vietnam mobile telecommunication began to be saturated with number of mobile subscribers exceeding over the total population; and mobile telecommunications revenue declined remarkably - Average revenue and number of ARPU subscribers decreasing The decrease in ARPU means profit growth rate of the telecommunications enterprises declines and is in difficulty while these enterprises still need a huge amount of money to maintain and expand networks, and re-invest This clearly indicates these enterprises must increase ARPU, or they will face many difficulties, even losses and bankruptcy in the future if they keep the race of subscription and telecommunication market share - Negative competition, promotion and discount race, garbage SIM The inevitable consequence of the rat race of telecommunications providers, in the context of developing economic and in the market of only 87 million people, in which 70% of them is in agriculture area, is the breakthrough of unidentified-user SIM, unreal suscribers and the situation of the survival of the fittest and negative competition Low rate of broadband use The proportion of people using Internet in Vietnam reached a high level, but the rate of broadband use in the number of internet users, despite rising continuously over the years, is still too low - The internal competition among state-owned telecommunications enterprises The nature of competition in telecommunications industry is the internal competition among state-owned telecommunications enterprises such as Viettel, Mobifone Vinaphone These account for more than 90% market share in terms of number of subscribers, revenue, networks infrastructure; private businesses account for a very small percentage of the market 3.3 Factors influencing competitiveness of Vietnam Telecommunications Industry Factors affecting competitiveness of Vietnam telecommunications Industry over the past few years: 15 16 3.4 - Many foreign enterprises invest in small scale - Under forms of joint venture, purchasing shares, not 100% foreign - Domestic enterprises begin to invest in other countries, however, only in small scale - Drastic but negative competition - Too many providers - Not good quality - State-owned enterprises dominate the market, private ones blocked Strategy, structure and domestic competition Foreign investm et - Abundant but low quality human not meeting requirements - Lack of capital for the development of telecommunicatio ns infrastructure - The popular technology in the world, quite good capacity - Rapid growth of telecommunicatio ns infrastructure, low scale Demand conditions Manufact uring conditions Involved and supporting insdutries The Govern ment - Lack of supporting industries, mainly foreign dependence - Ivolved industries newly formed with lowscale, fragmented and underdeveloped - Conditions of telecommunications manufacturing mainly depended on external sources Figure 3.1: Consolidation of diamond model of Vietnam Telecommunications industry - Large demand, young and crowded population - Lower income, less spending on telecommunication - Mainly used simple service: Listen, call - Non-voice service potential - Law system on telecommunicatio ns being completed - The trend of liberalization, open and reduce the domination of the state - Slow privatization process, the state still controlls telecommunicatio ns - Unfavorable environment of telecommunicatio n business Consolidation of advantages, disadvantages and requirements to improve competitiveness capacity of Telecommunications 3.4.1 Advantages of telecommunications’ competitiveness Telecommunications industry grows quickly with active restructuring of service; telecommunications enterprises have established and well maintained customer system and market Vietnam's telecommunications industry has established and built a large network system The telecommunications industry is more competitive and is in the first step towards the free market mechanism, actively invest and develop in foreign countries to increase competitiveness and market expansion 3.4.2 Disdvantages of telecommunications’ competitiveness capacity It has rapid but not sustainable growth, low broadband rate, ARPU decreased; human resources of telecommunications is both insufficient and unqualified; under-developed infrastructure especially broadband; lack of investment for telecommunication development by strategic and sustainable investors; State-owned telecommunications enterprises dominate the market, control and lead the market; supporting industries for inputs have not developed 3.4.3 Requirements to improve competitiveness capacity of Telecommunications Firstly, continue to improve the quality of telecommunication services Secondly, promote competition in the telecommunications industry towards the trend of the market itself Thirdly, change from the competition in terms of quantity and revenue to deep competition in terms of quality, profitablity and sustainablity Fourthly, increase the rate of using broadband throughout Vietnam, especially large cities and urban areas in Vietnam Fifthly, improve and enhance the rank of development level of Vietnam's telecommunication market 17 CHAPTER STRATEGY AND SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE COMPETITIVENESS OF VIETNAM TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY 4.1 Opportunities and threats in improving competitiveness of Vietnam telecommunications industry 4.1.1 Background macro environment to improve the competitiveness of Vietnam's telecommunications industry Some bases in the macro environment as a basis for determining opportunities and threats in improving competitiveness of Vietnam telecommunications industry: the commitment of telecommunications Commitment Vietnam joining the WTO, the orientation and development objectives of Vietnam telecommunications industry by 2020 of the Government, trends of technology development of the telecommunications industry in coming time 4.1.2 Opportunities and threats in improving competitiveness of Vietnam telecommunications industry 4.1.2.1 Opportunities in improving competitiveness of Vietnam telecommunications industry That Vietnam joins the WTO will promote investment attracting, freedom of telecommunications business The trend of globalization, international cooperation and integration is an opportunity to attract FDI, transfer technology and cooperate in telecommunications The government tends to promote equalization, liberalization and integration of telecommunications industry Government has the vision and determination to make Vietnam soon becoming strong in information technology Mechanism and policy of telecommunications such as: telecommunications law is on the way to be completed in accordance with WTO commitments Vietnam has young population and rapid urbanization speed, attractive telecommunication market with high growth economy; the 18 demand of mobile telecommunications and the Internet, especially broadband internet is increasing New rural in Vietnam is developing 4.1.2.2 Challenges in improving competitivenss of the telecommunications industry Joining WTO, the competition becomes cut-throat with foreign telecommunications enterprises which are very powerful in capital, technology and experiences in competition globally The world economy has experiences remarkble unstability and financial crisis Vietnamese macroeconomy is likely to go through turbulences, posing many risks and difficulties Average income per capital is low whereas most population reside in wide rural area Telecommunications technologies are subject to over-heated and complicated changes 4.2 Direction to improve competitiveness for Vietnamese telecommunications industry Firstly, in order to improve the competitiveness for the telecommunications industry, it is necessary to take advantages of opportunities, enhancing strengths, triumphing over weakness and overcoming challenges Secondly, telecommunications industry is the economic-technical sector of great importance, which should be preferentially invested, deserving to its significant role in the economic development of the country Thirdly, system of State’s documents, legislation and policies in relation to improvement of telecommunication competitivenss shall be suitable to international regulations and agreements by which Vietnam has abide Fourthly, raising telecommunications competitiveness shall be based on encouraging internal competition for better products, services and quality Fivethly, hastening liberalization and privatization of telecommunications market with specific route and steps Sixthly, keep on promoting internet wide spreading, introducing internet to rural areas, in which broadband internet takes the critical importance 4.3 Key solutions to improve competitivenss for Vietnamese telecommunications industry 19 4.3.1 Continue to strengthen the legal framework and policies in order to create a healthy competitive environment in the telecommunications sector Solution is to finalize policys towards telecommunications liberalization in accordance with the WTO integration trend and commitments Enhance equitizing domestic telecommunications enterprises to raise competitiveness of the industry 4.3.2 Better human resources quality in telecommunications industry The State should provide budget for training forms of graduate, postgraduate, vocational school in telecommunications and information technology major Step up cooperation in education and training with institutions in countries having a booming telecommunications and technology Socialize training work of telecommunication workforce with a varitey of training forms Diversify, renovate strongly in terms of contents, curriculum, teaching method, textbook, lesson plan, increasing time for practice and application in training insititutions in telecommunications and information technology Improve competency and qualification for the team of lecturers, teachers, and experts teaching and training telecommunications Schools, educational institutions training telecommunications human resources shall make close connection between training in school with practical experience at enterprises Enhance the staff of state managers in telecommunications Strenthen international cooperation to develop human resources for telecommunications 4.3.3 Continue to promote the improvement of infrastructure planning telecommunication networks to 2020 and build a strategy to develop the telecommunications sector to 2020 To promote the improvement of infrastructure planning telecommunication networks, first of all need to focus on promoting and developing a shared network infrastructure for the telecommunications industry combined with state enterprises and foreign investment in telecommunications infrastructure Encourage 20 attract investors to develop telecommunications infrastructure, high technology and broadband Complete strategy to develop the telecommunications sector in 2020 by communications plan developed countries by 2020 4.3.4 Heighten development research and application of modern science and technology in telecommunications to diversify telecommunication products and improve service quality Further cooperation, technology transfer and development cooperation with countries all over the world which have been successfully launching broadband telecommunications Enhance cooperation with researching institutions, universities and Vietnamese firms cooperating with foreign researching institutions, universties and enterprises in transfer of science and technology, especially hi-technology and environmentally friendly technology Keep on proving the role of commercial promotion in telecommunications of relevant minitries, industry The Government should control better with more openess in recognizing patent, invention of Vietnam in technology, new technique in telecommunications Bring into play the role and better effectiveness of the State agencies in supporting and promoting transfer of modern telecommunication technology 4.3.5 Strengthening international cooperation, participation of global value chains, promoting the development of industry support for the telecommunications industry Apply modern technology to strongly develop production of telecommunication terminal devices Developing supportive industry for telecommunition shall focus on the industry of producing electronic and telecommunication devices, software and digital content for telecommunication, to diversify SIM services to be introduced to the market It is recommended that the State should give priority in funding, technology, location and such policies such as taxation exemption or reduction for small and medium sized enterprises engaging in telecommunications supportive industries, especially hi-tech and environmentally friendly fields The State 21 22 perfects promulgating guidelines for preferential respects, attracting enterprises to participate in developing telecommunication supportive industries Vietnamese small and medium sized enterprises forward linking and cooperating with foreign small and medium sized enterpriese to develop telecommunication supportive industries 4.3.6 Telecommunication enterprises raise the sense of initiative in international cooperation and investment abroad Seek for and develop new markets Diversify types of value added services Improve quality of service and customer care Invest in upgrading new and modern technology Being Proactive in investment abroad Frequently restructure and reorganize the organization machine 4.4 Recommendations to improve competitiveness for Vietnamese telecommunication industry In order to continuously improve competitiveness for Vietnamese telecommunications industry in the coming time, it is recommended that: For State authorities: (1) Ministry of Industry and Trade and Ministry of Information and Communication should further dialoging, monitoring, working with telecommunications enterprires to grasp real information and have methods to manage telecommunications operation in close and effective manner Also, taking drastic and strict sanction to any act of violation againts competition laws no mater which enterprises are breaking (2) Ministry of National Defense and Ministry of Information and Communication should be heavy-hand and perremptory equitizing telecommunication enterprises (3) Ministry of Information and Communication should occasionally review, regulate and add more suitable legal documents orienting the development of Vietnamese telecommunications (4) Ministry of Science and Technology, the State’s managerial agency in science and technology innovation, should issue preferntial policies and mechanisms in respect of human resources and financial resources to be invested in telecommunication technology research and development, so that the Vietnamese telecommunications should be able to catch up with such quick global changes of telecommunication technologies (5) Ministy of Education and Training should enhance directing, drawing up, planning training major in electronics and telecommunications, more specialization and extension For enterprises: (1) Be Proactive in cooperating and strenghening common use of telecommunications infastructure to save cost and increase profit (2) Step-by-step, research and master telecommunications technologies, especially, able to product a part or the majority of network infastructure equipment to avoid total dependence and domination and price squezee, affecting the network development and competitiveness (3) Take Initiative in strengthening investment abroad to seek for and expand market share, market, improving international competitiveness (4) Establish Vietnam Association of Telecommunications 23 24 CONCLUSION Vietnamese telecommunications is a key economic and technical industry of the country then Vietnam integrates more and more deeply and widely into the regional and international economy, especially after WTO accession Vietnamese telecommunications have been contributing important part to the socio-economic development of the country, playing a role as a significant tool and means to foster Vietnam Vietnamese telecommunications have many opportunities but also coping with enormous challenges ahead, improving telecommunication competitiveness is an inevitable tendency, also an urgent requirement for Vietnam, in the present and in the future This thesis has generalized and set up criteria to reflect telecommunications competitiveness and determined main factors influencing the competitiveness of the industry, as basis to assess current status of Vietnamese telecommunication competitiveness over the pass time In addition to salient advantages of the industry including good growth rate, both in network infrastructure, revenue, number of subscribers and so forth, it is the fact that telecommunication competitiveness is still limited, structure of internal competition remains poor, stated-owned telecommunications enterprises, enjoying privilege, showcasing the dominance and governance over the market By assessing the current status, looking at the panorama of Vietnamese telecommunication over time, the thesis has put forward categories of solutions and recommendations to be drawn from researching outcomes, with the prospect that it would have a part in improving Vietnamese telecommunications competitiveness in the next time Although the very best efforts have been made in researching, owning to restrictions to time and resources, our study, as a matter of fact, gets unavoidably limitations and shortcomings, to some certain extents In the further studies, the author will endevour to create special subjects evaluating more deeply difference aspects of telecommunications competitiveness, with the ambition to better serve professional practice of the author and provide more useful information for managerial agencies, organizations, researchers and those who are interested in Vietnamese telecommunications competitiveness [...]... challenges ahead, improving telecommunication competitiveness is an inevitable tendency, also an urgent requirement for Vietnam, in the present and in the future This thesis has generalized and set up criteria to reflect telecommunications competitiveness and determined main factors influencing the competitiveness of the industry, as basis to assess current status of Vietnamese telecommunication competitiveness. .. governance over the market By assessing the current status, looking at the panorama of Vietnamese telecommunication over time, the thesis has put forward categories of solutions and recommendations to be drawn from researching outcomes, with the prospect that it would have a part in improving Vietnamese telecommunications competitiveness in the next time Although the very best efforts have been made in... over the pass time In addition to salient advantages of the industry including good growth rate, both in network infrastructure, revenue, number of subscribers and so forth, it is the fact that telecommunication competitiveness is still limited, structure of internal competition remains poor, stated-owned telecommunications enterprises, enjoying privilege, showcasing the dominance and governance over the. .. telecommunication industry In order to continuously improve competitiveness for Vietnamese telecommunications industry in the coming time, it is recommended that: For State authorities: (1) Ministry of Industry and Trade and Ministry of Information and Communication should further dialoging, monitoring, working with telecommunications enterprires to grasp real information and have methods to manage telecommunications. .. restrictions to time and resources, our study, as a matter of fact, gets unavoidably limitations and shortcomings, to some certain extents In the further studies, the author will endevour to create special subjects evaluating more deeply difference aspects of telecommunications competitiveness, with the ambition to better serve professional practice of the author and provide more useful information for managerial... part or the majority of network infastructure equipment to avoid total dependence and domination and price squezee, affecting the network development and competitiveness (3) Take Initiative in strengthening investment abroad to seek for and expand market share, market, improving international competitiveness (4) Establish Vietnam Association of Telecommunications 23 24 CONCLUSION Vietnamese telecommunications. .. key economic and technical industry of the country then Vietnam integrates more and more deeply and widely into the regional and international economy, especially after WTO accession Vietnamese telecommunications have been contributing important part to the socio-economic development of the country, playing a role as a significant tool and means to foster Vietnam Vietnamese telecommunications have many... act of violation againts competition laws no mater which enterprises are breaking (2) Ministry of National Defense and Ministry of Information and Communication should be heavy-hand and perremptory equitizing telecommunication enterprises (3) Ministry of Information and Communication should occasionally review, regulate and add more suitable legal documents orienting the development of Vietnamese telecommunications. .. enterprises raise the sense of initiative in international cooperation and investment abroad Seek for and develop new markets Diversify types of value added services Improve quality of service and customer care Invest in upgrading new and modern technology Being Proactive in investment abroad Frequently restructure and reorganize the organization machine 4.4 Recommendations to improve competitiveness. .. telecommunications (4) Ministry of Science and Technology, the State’s managerial agency in science and technology innovation, should issue preferntial policies and mechanisms in respect of human resources and financial resources to be invested in telecommunication technology research and development, so that the Vietnamese telecommunications should be able to catch up with such quick global changes of telecommunication