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| Installing a base transceiver station of Viettel in Hanoi__Photo: VNA |
Passed in last November and taking effect on July 1 this year, the Law on Telecommunications (the Law) will supersede the 2009 Law on Telecommunications and its 2017 and 2018 amendments.
The 73-article Law regulates telecommunications activities. It defines the rights and obligations of organizations and individuals engaged in telecommunications activities and state management of telecommunications. The Law applies to Vietnamese and foreign organizations and individuals directly engaged or involved in telecommunications activities in Vietnam.
The Law is expected to help boost the development of new telecommunications services, facilitate telecommunications infrastructure development, promote healthy competition in telecommunications wholesale, simplify administrative procedures in telecommunications licensing, control telecommunications waste, and protect the rights of telecommunications service users.
The Law has some noteworthy new points.
Three new telecommunications services
In order to follow the trend of digitalizing telecommunications infrastructure, while creating a transparent and equitable legal environment for businesses, the Law expands its scope of regulation to cover three more “non-traditional” telecommunications services, including internet data center (IDC) services; cloud computing services; and basic telecommunications services on the Internet, also known as over-the-top (OTT) services.
A “light-touch regulation”, open and flexible approach will apply to the management of these new services to better protect users’ rights, ensure safety and security of services to be provided, and facilitate the development of services. The “light-touch regulation” approach aims to boost the development of new services while securing a healthy investment climate.
Specifically, no restriction on foreign holding rate will be imposed on enterprises commercially providing OTC services, data center services and cloud computing services in Vietnam. This clearly demonstrates the country’s policy of facilitating foreign investment, making Vietnam one of data centers of the region, and helping institutionalize the Party’s policy on development of national information and communications infrastructure.
At the same time, service providers will be entitled to relief of a number of obligations as compared to traditional telecommunications businesses. For example, they are not obliged to contribute to the Public Telecommunications Service Fund and pay charge for the telecommunications operation right.
It should be noted that telecommunications licenses do not apply to the new services. Instead, the form of registration or notification of telecommunications service provision will be applied to the providers of these telecommunications services. With this form, the service providers are only required to declare information about themselves, and types of services and quality of services they provide.
In addition, service providers also have specific rights and obligations corresponding to each type of service as prescribed in the Law.
Particularly, the regulations on provision of OTT services, data center services and cloud computing services in Articles 28 and 29 of the Law will enter into force on January 1 next year.
Cross-border telecommunications services
New regulations on management of cross-border provision of telecommunications services to telecommunications service users in Vietnam’s territory are introduced in Article 21 of the Law.
Accordingly, the provision of these telecommunications services must comply with Vietnam’s law and treaties to which Vietnam is a contracting party.
The Law states that foreign institutions providing cross-border telecommunications services will, in addition to abiding by their commitments, also meet requirements on national defense, security and public policies; and comply with Articles 5.6, 6, and 13.2 (Points b and d), of the Law. Additionally, they have to abide by the laws on cyberinformation security and cyber security, for cases of provision of telecommunications services under commitments in treaties to which Vietnam is a contracting party. Telecommunications enterprises entering into commercial agreements with foreign providers of cross-border telecommunications services to telecommunications service users in Vietnam’s territory are required to formulate technical plans to ensure information security and urgently block or stop providing telecommunications services at the request of competent state agencies.
Telecommunications licenses
In an effort to streamline administrative procedures, the Law has redefined the two types of telecommunications license, namely license for commercial provision of telecommunications services and license for telecommunications operations.
Additionally, the Law introduces forms of telecommunications licensing tailored to different types of telecommunications networks and services.
As construed in Article 35, private licensing is carried out on the basis of setting out exclusive conditions and obligations for enterprises in the two cases below:
(i) Issuance of licenses for provision of telecommunications services based on network infrastructure and using radio frequencies through organizing auctions or contests for selection of the radio frequency use right, or re-issuance of frequency band use permits; and,
(ii) Issuance of licenses for provision of telecommunications services based on network infrastructure for areas subject to special requirements specified by the Government.
Meanwhile, the form of group-based licensing is carried out on the basis of evaluating applicants’ satisfaction of general conditions and obligations specified for organizations and enterprises in three cases: issuance of licenses for provision of telecommunications services based on network infrastructure other than those mentioned at items (i) and (ii) above; issuance of licenses for provision of telecommunications services not based on network infrastructure, except the cases of provision of services subject to registration and notification of telecommunications service provision specified in Clauses 1 and 2, Article 41 of the Law; and licenses for telecommunications operations.
Conditions for issuance of licenses are laid down in Articles 36 and 38 of the Law.
It is important to note that licenses for telecommunications operations issued under the 2009 Law on Telecommunications remain valid until their expiry dates.
Auction of telecommunications number storage and Internet resources
As required in Article 50 of the Law, types of telecommunications number resources and Internet resources subject to auction include terrestrial mobile network codes, mobile subscriber numbers used for human subscribers, short-message service numbers, response service numbers, and Vietnam’s level-2 national domain names “.vn” each consisting of 1 character or 2 characters, except protected domain names and shared domain names as defined by the Minister of Information and Communications.
The Law adds a provision stating that forms, methods, order and procedures for auction of telecommunications codes and names and Vietnam’s national domain names “.vn” must comply with the law on property auction.-
