Vietnam's Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) has threatened to impose penalties including license revocation on operators engaging in price dumping for international VoIP services.
The ministry has issued the warning after discovering that many operators have engaged in the pricing practice over the past 10 years, VietNamNet Bridgereported.
The ministry plans to take action to prevent incumbent operators from pricing services below the $0.058 per minute average threshold.
Operators which provide services at unusually low fees, distorting competition, should be “punished heavily,” Viettel executive director Hoang Son told the paper.
Last week, the ministry held an auction for the inflow of international VoIP traffic. Viettel, VNPT and MobiFone are required to transfer 30% of their VoIP output to smaller international VoIP providers.
The floor price for the auction was 850 dong ($0.04) per minute of international VoIP traffic.
The fact that the auction drew a large number of participants could cause more issues with price undercutting and competition.