The total subscribers by the end of May were 132.8 million, including 122.79 million mobile subscribers, or 92.5 percent and 10 million fixed subscribers, 7.5 percent. On average, each Vietnamese uses 1.5 simcards.
According to the General Statistic Office’s data, the growth of mobile subscribers has began to slow down. In the first half of 2012, Vietnam had 800,000-1.2 million new subscribers/month during this time, an increase of 5.4 million or 2.8 percent in six months.

Telecom firms also said that the growth of subscribers was unstable because several subscribers changed their networks very often to enjoy trade promotions. Last year, MobiFone sold 30 million simcards but by the end of the year, only 500,000 were active. The increase of “virtual” subscribers does not benefit telecom firms.

However, since the Ministry of Information and Communications’ Circular 04 took effect on June 1, the number of “virtual” subscribers is expected to sharply reduce because all new simcards must be activated at customer care centers of telecom firms, not agents.

Source: Vietnamnet