One year after 3G services were launched in Vietnam, the number of 3G service subscribers remains modest, accounting for just five percent of 100 million subscribers of mobile networks. That explains why the 3G device market has been quiet over the last year. However, telecom experts believe that the current situation will be soon improved. They say that the number of 3G service subscribers will increase rapidly thanks to the service fees and equipment price increases. Therefore, the 3G device market will be heating up with the participation of more and more prestigious brands.
3G phones
Nokia is the manufacturer who offers the largest number of 3G models including Nokia 2730 Classic (1.68 million dong), Nokia 7230 (2 million dong), Nokia 6600 ford (2.65 million dong), Nokia 6120 Classic 3G (2.8 million dong), Nokia C5 (more than 3 million dong), Nokia 5230 (3.25 million dong), and Nokia E63 (3.7 million dong). Samsung also has a wide range of products for customers, from S5350 Shark (3 million dong), Samsung B7320 OmniaPro (4.27 million dong), to Samsung M5650 (4 million dong). Besides popular models, a lot of high class products are also available on the market, namely Nokia E71, N97, Samsung B7610 OmniaPro, Sony Ericsson W995, iPhone, or BlackBerry.
After a period of exploring the market, in late 2010, FPT launched its first dual sim card 3G multifunctional phone – F99 3G. Besides internet connection capabilities like other 3G phones, F99 3G can also be used as 3G USB.
Q-Mobile also marketed its 3G phone several months ago, after three years of joining the mobile phone market. The first 3G phones of Q-Mobile – Q-Mobile QUY, designed to imitate a tortoise’s shell, sold at 2.49 million dong per item . After success with the first model, Q-Mobile marketed another 3G model, Q-Mobile M75 with a touch screen and Qwerty keyboard; it is selling at 2.19 million dong. Next Q-Mobile M73 launched onto the market and is selling at 2 million dong.
Q-Mobile brand is now dominating the market segment for popular customers with average sale prices between 600,000 dong and two million dong. Nguyen Quang Minh, General Director of AB Tel, the owner of Q-Mobile said the company is planning to become the leading 3G phone supplier in Vietnam.
A recent survey by Gartner showed that in the next three years, it will be more popular to access the internet with mobile phones than with computers. In 2013, it is expected the total number of computers to access the internet will be 1.78 billion, while the number of mobile phones used to access the internet will be 1.82 billion.
This may be the main reason why many “big guys” have joined the 3G phone market. Not only familiar names like Nokia, Ericsson, or Apple, but even the computers specializing in computers and electronics, such as Acer and Hanel, have also jumped on the bandwagon.
In mid 2010, Acer brought high-end 3G phones into Vietnam and sold them at 10 million dong a piece. In late 2010, Hanel, a well known brand in Vietnam for electronics, also joined the market with the HANEL H1000 3G model; its sale price was 2.45 million dong.
Computers and devices supporting 3G connections
Some manufacturers have provided 3G integrated laptops such as Asus, Acer and HP. Especially, Nokia has also joined the market with Booklet 3G. Meanwhile, Lenovo has also provided 3G integrated computers such as the ThinkPad Edge 11 selling for 12.5 million dong.
Computer distributors said that 3G integrated computers still cannot attract clients. The problem is that in order to use 3G services, users have to buy one more equipment, WWAN 3G at 1.5-2 million dong.
The most popularly used device which is used to access to Internet from laptops is 3G USB, priced at 700-800,000 dong. Of the current 3G service providers, only Viettel is producing the device, while other service providers are outsourcing the production to ZTE or Huawei.
Besides USB and WWAN, the market now has Data Card, priced at 600,0000-1.6 million dong.
Source: Vienamnet