Experts have doubts that the application of new technologies would not be able to revive S-Fone.

The defeat of S-Fone on the Vietnamese market has been attributed to the application of CDMA, the technology which is unsuitable in Vietnam. Especially, when using S-Fone services with CDMA technology, people have to use the terminals fitting the technology. Meanwhile, the available products are not diversified on the amrekt.

Experts have also pointed out that the limitations of the BCC (business cooperation contract) mode have led to the poor business performance of the mobile network.

As the Saigon Postel (SPT), which owns S-Fone, has shifted S-Fone into a joint venture since late 2010, it now can take initiative in choosing the business mode and technologies itself.

Sources have said that S-Fone is considering declaring the death of CDMA and shift to use more advanced technologies.

However, Hoang Ngoc Diep, former Indochina Qualcomm Director, who has been working as the advisor to the telecom industry, said that the death of S-Fone, if it occurs, would not be caused by the technology, but the bad corporate governance.

“You can easily blame the technology, because it cannot speak. It is also unreasonable to blame terminals. CDMA still can develop well in India, Indonesia, China and African countries. Why can’t it develop in Vietnam?” Diep questioned.

Diep went on to say that it is necessary to find out the real reasons of the failure and fix the problems. The problem does not lie in the investment partner, but in the vision, business strategy and the management of the leadership.

Also according to Diep, even if S-Fone uses HSPA (3G) technology like the other big networks, it would not be able to compete with Viettel, MobiFone or VinaPhone. Even Hutchison Telecom, one of the leading telecom groups in the world with powerful financial and technology capabilities, has been facing big difficulties with its Vietnamobile network in Vietnam which has also shifted from CDMA to GSM technology.

The thing that S-Fone needs to do now not simply using another technology, but finding a leadership which can create differences to acquire the market segments that have not been conquered by others.

Besides, it needs to have huge capital to implement the plan on creating the differences. One of the ways out, according to Diep, is to focus on satisfying the specific demands of institutions and businesses, the demand for M2M (machine to machine) connection – the fields that others have not jumped into.

When asked by Thoi bao Kinh te Vietnam about the technology to be used in the future, Pham Tien Thinh, Managing Director of CDMA S-Telecom mobile phone center, said that the choosing would depend on many factors, including the market factors, the demand of the domestic users, the development of the technology in the regional and the world, and the prices of terminals.

However, he said, the involved parties will certainly discuss about the technologies to be used, because the 850 Mhz waveband, which is being used by S-Fone, has many great technological advantages, which allow to implement most of the mobile information services, from CDMA to WCDMA/HPSA+ and LTE as well.

Besides, with the waveband, S-Fone would need less base transceiver stations to cover an area than the mobile networks operating on other wavebands.

The comments on telecommunication forums showed the common viewpoint of many people that technology would not be the way out for S-Fone. The mobile network has spent too much money to develop the CDMA-based network. Meanwhile, it is now too late to shift to GSM technology, because there are many mobile networks utilizing that technology already.

Source: TBKTVN

People and businesses now tend to apply necessary measures to protect themselves from leaking personal information.

Hang, Head of the Communication Division of an information technology service firm, said that she usually bought goods on three groupon websites. After a short time after she began making online purchases, her email account became full of the emails from 5-6 other groupon websites, inviting to buy goods.

Hang said this was a surprise to her, because she showed the email account her company provided to individuals, which she did not give to anyone before.

According to Son, an information technology system administrator of a shopping mall in HCM City, said he received a lot of calls from an insurance company, persuading him to take an insurance policy. He had not received similar calls until several months ago, when he opened a bank account.

Both Hang and Son said they feel inconvenient when they are bothered with the calls. However, they are both luckier than others, because they could find out why the personal information was leaked.

Meanwhile, Ha, an office worker of a wooden furniture shop, said that she provides her personal information to many jewelry shops, footwear and spa shops, shopping malls and supermarkets to join customer care programs and sale promotion campaigns. Ha receives so many messages, emails and calls every day, persuading them to use financial services, but she cannot find how her personal information was leaked.

There are many personal information sources. Consumers would voluntarily leave personal information on survey sheets delivered by consumer goods companies, or provide personal information to the call centers of enterprises, or booking agents.

According to Hang, in order to buy goods from groupon websites, she has to provide personal information. And though she understands well that the information may be out, she has to accept the risk, because she needs to buy goods regularly.

Son also said that when providing personal information, he can use a lot of other bank services while not needing to repeat the information every time he uses it. Especially, providing personal information is a compulsory condition for every client who wants to use banking services.

Meanwhile, Ha said that she would be ready to provide personal information, because the information would help the enterprises better serve clients.

However, both Ha and Hang admitted that the enterprises do not make any commitments on their responsibility to protect personal information. In some cases, consultancy officers only make oral commitments. Meanwhile, Son said that even if the enterprises promise to keep personal information secret, no one would be able to find out if the enterprises break their promises.

Therefore, most of people now accept to “live together with the risk of information exposure.”

Not only individuals–leaking information has also become a headache to businesses. A director of a real estate firm said that his marketing division is comprised of 10 officers. When an officer leaves the firm, he would leave a list of potential clients. However, the list only shows the names and the telephone numbers. Meanwhile, other important information such as the financial capability, salaries and hobbies would be taken away by the officers.

Vo Thai Lam, Director of Lac Tien Company, which specializes in providing the solutions on corporate governance with open source software pieces, said that this is a big problem of small and medium enterprises which do not have clear corporate governance procedure.

When quitting jobs, officers only give back tangible assets, such as computers or simcards; while intangible assets, such as the contacts and customers’ data are always ignored.

Source: TBVTSG

he electronics and IT sector has seen high profits in recent years but it is still facing with a problem of low-value products, according to the General Statistics Office.

Viet Nam’s export of mobile phones and accessories ranked third last year, after garments and crude oil, with an export turnover of US$6.86 billion or a year-on-year increase of 200 per cent.

The garment and textile sector brought the country more than $14 billion, with a labour force of three million, Viet Nam Textile and Apparel Association said. Crude oil export posted a turnover of $7.24 billion.

Over the past three years, mobile phones and computer exports brought in $2 billion and electronics and electronic appliances earned $3 billion each year. With a young population and low income, Viet Nam will continue to be an attractive consumer destination for businesses for the foreseeable future.

Statistics about the labour force in the electronics industry are unofficial but the revenue from this sector will continue to rapidly increase and lure more workers. Last year, Canon Viet Nam employed 23,000 workers, bringing a revenue of $1.6 billion. Samsung Mobile Viet Nam posted an export turnover of $5 billion and employed nearly 15,000 workers. Many big foreign companies have plans to build their plants in Viet Nam, Saigon Marketing newspaper reports.

Such development has led to a paradox in the electronics industry. Sales from this sector are great but of low value due to unskilled workers.

For instance, Samsung Viet Nam spent $1 billion in a short time to bring a top export revenue for the country, accounting for nearly 50 per cent of the country’s electronic exports. Viet Nam’s electronics industry has been given incentives related to investment capital, tax policy and land but in the last 20 years about 100 companies have been involved in manufacturing and assembling low-value electronics items only.

Recently, Qualcomm, a designer and supplier of CDMA chipsets and system software, committed to transfer technology for Viettel corporation to produce mobile phones. Viettel is the first customer of Qualcomm in ASEAN after large scale markets including China, South Korea and Japan. Viet Nam remains a fiercely competitive market, but domestic suppliers are not strong enough to compete with foreign players.

According to Qualcomm Indochina general director Vu Minh Tri, if a Vietnamese company purchases products from other countries and uses Vietnamese brand names, they have to pay a copyright fee. Viettel now has an ambitious plan to employ experienced engineers from global technology groups to help address limits of Vietnamese engineers who are good at technology but are poor at research, development and design due to the lack of a design industry.

The investment flow into the electronics industry now has also changed. The foreign manufacturers have become a link to connect Viet Nam with their global supply chain. Foreign investors will not be persuaded to share in the local market if they don’t find opportunities or profit here. These factors will depend on Government policy to create a strong R&D environment. “If not, Viet Nam will continue to be a destination of assemblers due to its cheap labour cost but without having access to the high value segment of the industry,” said experts.