Saturday, June 28, 2003
Vietnam allows Internet telephony
Agence France-Presse Hanoi, June 28
Vietnam's Ministry of Post and Telecommunication has allowed the country's online service providers (OSP) to launch low-cost Internet phone services, state media said on Saturday.
Under a decision issued by the Ministry on Friday, Vietnamese OSPs will be able to start providing domestic and international PC-to-PC and PC-to-Phone calls over the Internet from July 1, the Thanh Nien newspaper said.
The Ministry also announced that Internet Phone service will be charged with an average price of 1,400 dong (nine cents) per minute for international calls, while the service providers will decide the charges for PC-to-PC calls.
The price for an international call on a standard line costs currently around $1 per minute.
Also on July 1, a new high-speed Internet service will be launched in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and the northern port city of Hai Phong by the Ministry's Viet Nam Datacommunication Company.
The Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line services, whose maximum charge is fixed at $75 a month, can provide 24 hour Internet access at speeds up to 40 times faster than traditional modems, on a standard analogue phone line.
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