Though FTTH (fiber to the home) is considered the best service forpeople to access to Internet, it is still not the choice of the majorityof Vietnamese people. A report published by the English-language newswebsite VietNamNet Bridge on February 13 gave an insight into solutionsto heat up the FTTH market.
The latest survey conducted in Hanoiand Ho Chi Minh City, the two biggest FTTH service markets in Vietnam,has found that only 7 percent of businesses use FTTH, a very low figurecompared to the 37 percent in the Republic of Korea, 21 percent in HongKong and 50 percent in Singapore.
Advanced technology inaccessible to users
FTTHhas been utilised in Vietnam for seven years. From the very beginning,it was believed to replace the ADSL technology because it allowsInternet users to better access Internet-based facilities, such aswatching films or TV programmes, playing games.
However, itseemingly would take a longer time than initially expected to make FTTHmore popular. One of the biggest barriers that keep clients away is thehigh fee.
Though mobile network operators have been trying toencourage people to use FTTH by offering fee discounts, the number ofusers has not seen considerable increases. People believe that the FTTHservice fee is still not low enough, while ADSL is still “acceptable”.
Analystshave pointed out that one of the other problems is that the productsare not diversified enough to satisfy different groups of customers.FTTH has been automatically understood by people as the “luxurious” or“high-end” service, which is reserved only for the big enterprises withstrong financial capability.
The monthly subscription of millionsof dong proved to be unaffordable to the majority of Vietnamesefamilies. Therefore, most of them still use ADSL even though they havebeen warned about the upcoming end of the ADSL era.
Popularising high-end services
Despitethe low percentage of FTTH service subscribers, telcos still hope thatthey have great opportunities to develop in the home market.
Analystshave commented that the service provider who can provide services atreasonable fees will be the winner in the market competition.
Ata workshop about the future of the Internet economy held in late 2013,experts affirmed ADSL will not be able to satisfy the services of thefuture due to the low and unstable quality.
A question raised wasthat which technology will replace ADSL? Two options were predicted:FTTH with outstanding advantages, or Internet on TV cable system.
FTTHproves to be the most perfect solution, except the high service fee. Ifthe problem can be settled, FTTH will surely be the growing tendencyamong Internet users.
In fact, telcos have been moving ahead withtheir plans to target medium class clients and individual clientsinstead of focusing on high income earners as they did previously.
Themilitary telco Viettel is believed to be the pioneer in popularisingFTTH service. The subscribers of Eco FTTH of Viettel now have to pay350,000 VND (roughly 16.58 USD) a month only to use the 12 Mbpsbandwidth, just a little higher than the ADSL subscription fee.
Other big guys are believed to join the race of lowering the service fee soon, which will heat up the FTTH market.-VNA
The latest survey conducted in Hanoiand Ho Chi Minh City, the two biggest FTTH service markets in Vietnam,has found that only 7 percent of businesses use FTTH, a very low figurecompared to the 37 percent in the Republic of Korea, 21 percent in HongKong and 50 percent in Singapore.
Advanced technology inaccessible to users
FTTHhas been utilised in Vietnam for seven years. From the very beginning,it was believed to replace the ADSL technology because it allowsInternet users to better access Internet-based facilities, such aswatching films or TV programmes, playing games.
However, itseemingly would take a longer time than initially expected to make FTTHmore popular. One of the biggest barriers that keep clients away is thehigh fee.
Though mobile network operators have been trying toencourage people to use FTTH by offering fee discounts, the number ofusers has not seen considerable increases. People believe that the FTTHservice fee is still not low enough, while ADSL is still “acceptable”.
Analystshave pointed out that one of the other problems is that the productsare not diversified enough to satisfy different groups of customers.FTTH has been automatically understood by people as the “luxurious” or“high-end” service, which is reserved only for the big enterprises withstrong financial capability.
The monthly subscription of millionsof dong proved to be unaffordable to the majority of Vietnamesefamilies. Therefore, most of them still use ADSL even though they havebeen warned about the upcoming end of the ADSL era.
Popularising high-end services
Despitethe low percentage of FTTH service subscribers, telcos still hope thatthey have great opportunities to develop in the home market.
Analystshave commented that the service provider who can provide services atreasonable fees will be the winner in the market competition.
Ata workshop about the future of the Internet economy held in late 2013,experts affirmed ADSL will not be able to satisfy the services of thefuture due to the low and unstable quality.
A question raised wasthat which technology will replace ADSL? Two options were predicted:FTTH with outstanding advantages, or Internet on TV cable system.
FTTHproves to be the most perfect solution, except the high service fee. Ifthe problem can be settled, FTTH will surely be the growing tendencyamong Internet users.
In fact, telcos have been moving ahead withtheir plans to target medium class clients and individual clientsinstead of focusing on high income earners as they did previously.
Themilitary telco Viettel is believed to be the pioneer in popularisingFTTH service. The subscribers of Eco FTTH of Viettel now have to pay350,000 VND (roughly 16.58 USD) a month only to use the 12 Mbpsbandwidth, just a little higher than the ADSL subscription fee.
Other big guys are believed to join the race of lowering the service fee soon, which will heat up the FTTH market.-VNA
