Vietnam Plans to Award 3G Licenses in Q2 2009

Vietnam's Ministry of Information and Communications has published the details of its planned 3G license tender - and announced that four licenses will be awarded in Q2 2009. The country currently has seven active mobile networks however, so three companies face a future without the ability to offer 3G services.

The seven firms have until January 2009 to submit their tenders for the licenses - which are not being offered to any new entrants - and the government will announce the results within a couple of months.

The tender will be based largely on a beauty contest model where coverage plans will be a key factor in being short-listed prior to the auction.

Estimates from the Mobile World subscriber tracker says that the country ended the first half of this year with a shade under 50 million mobile phone users - representing a population penetration level of 58%.

The Vietnamese government is also preparing to sell a 30% stake in MobiFone via an initial public offering by the end of this year. A stake of 15% will be listed on the stock market while the government will also sell 15% to a "strategic investor", which is generally presumed to be a major international operator.

Posted to the site on 11th November 2008