In September 2018, the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) published the first draft of a new Decree to amend and supplement Decree No. 25/2011/ND-CP of April 06, 2011 detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Telecommunications Law (Decree 25) and some related decrees and circulars.

During its seven years in force, in order to comply with other regulations and to enhance the administrative management efficiency, Decree 25 was amended and supplemented two times by

(i) Decree 81/2016/ND-CP (which amended the articles relating to the condition to invest and doing the business of telecommunications service) and

(ii) Decree 49/2017/ND-CP (which amended the Article 15 on Conclusion of standard form contracts or contracts containing general terms and conditions, retention and use of subscriber information).  

Due to changes in the economy and technology, Government, the telecommunications industry, and the business sector believe that the amended and supplemented Decree 25 no longer properly addresses some issues in today’s economy, thus requiring further amendments and supplements to Decree 25.

The objective of the draft of the new Decree is aims to overcome some of the obstacles and inadequacies of competition in the following areas:

1. Business of telecommunications services;
2. Granting of telecommunications licenses;
3. Managing personal information of users; and
4. Managing telephone number telecommunication resources,

in order to promote and mainten a healthy and competitive environment, to ensure the effective use of telecommunication resources, and to implement the administrative reforms.

According to the draft, the new Decree is amended and supplemented with the following main provisions: :

1. Supplements the provisions on managing competition in business telecommunication services;

Detail: Includes the objective of clarifying the related telecommunication markets to comply with Competition Law and regulations on telecommunications and the list of related telecommunication markets in which competition should be managed (Article 1.1 of the Draft); Includes guidelines on telecommunication companies with dominant market positions (Article 1.2 of the Draft).

1. Amends and supplements the provisions on granting telecommunication licenses;

Detail: Provides the text of the regulation on penalties in cases of administrative violations to comply with other regulations on telecommunications and clarifying the definition of fixed telecommunication networks without using wireless electric frequency bands, telecommunication subscribers” (Article 1.4 of the Draft); attached with the application form for related administrative procedures.

1. Supplements the regulations on revoking telephone number storage (resources).

Detail: Clearly stipulates the procedure for revoking the telecommunications subscriber (phone number) and the responsibility of relating state agencies and users (Article 33a).

1. Amends the regulation on the registration, filing and use of users’ personal information.

Detail: Clearly stipulates the definition of user personal information and the responsibility of telecommunication companies for ensuring that such personal information is accurate. Accordingly, telecommunication companies are permitted to be proactive when implementing the regulations.

This draft of the new Decree is publicized for public, particularly enterprises, to contribute their opinions, advice and/or arguments. The MIC will be responsible for summarizing opinions received, and combine them to produce a further version of the draft of new decree. This decree is expected to be approved in 2019.