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July 11, 2013

Client Alert: New Circular Provides Details on Telecom Licensing

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Tilleke & Gibbins

A new circular, which came into effect last week, sets out the conditions that must be fulfilled for enterprises to be granted a license for telecom business in Vietnam, including requirements on:

  1. Registered business lines
  2. Financial conditions
  3. Organizational structure and personnel
  4. Technology and business conditions
  5. Telecom infrastructure safety and information security

The financial conditions include prerequisite amounts of legal capital and investment commitment. For example, the legal capital required for provision of public telecom services is VND 5 billion to 300 billion (approximately USD 240,000 to 14.1 million) depending on the area of service provision, with an investment commitment of VND 100 billion to 3 trillion (approximately USD 4.7 million to 141.3 million).

Application dossier

An enterprise can simultaneously submit an application dossier for both a license of establishment of a public telecom network and a license for providing telecom services using this network. In addition to the normal corporate documents required, the applicant must submit a five-year business plan and technical plan in statutory form, and/or the draft telecom services contract with end-users.

Timeline for license granting

A telecom license is supposed to be granted within 45 business days for a new application and 40 business days for renewals or amended cases.

A combined license for establishment of a telecom network and provision of telecom services is required to be converted into two separate licenses before the end of this year. However, the legal capital and investment commitment requirements are exempted in the case of a conversion to a license for establishment of a telecom network.

More information

To learn more about the licensing requirements under the Ministry of Information and Communications Circular No. 12/2013/TT-BTTTT, please contact [email protected].

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