VietNamNet Bridge – With the low pricing policy, Chinese telecom group Huawei
has taken firm steps to conquer the Vietnamese market. Meanwhile, Vietnamese
network operators have been told to take precautions when doing business with
the telecom device manufacturer from the neighboring country.
2012 was a very successful year for Huawei which then became the biggest telecom
device manufacturer in the world after outstripping Ericsson in terms of
turnover. In Vietnam, with the low pricing policy, the manufacturer has swiftly
defeated all the big rivals. Huawei Device has become the main supplier of
telecom devices to nearly all the big network operators, namely Viettel,
Huawei’s products cheaper than anyone else’s
Before Huawei “attacked” the Vietnamese market, Vietnamese mobile network
operators bought switchboards, core networks and base transreceiver stations
(BTS) from the big European and US suppliers including Ericsson, Alcatel,
Nokia-Siemens, Orange-France Telecom and Motorola.
However, the big guys have been defeated by Huawei, which has been following a
simple competition policy – selling products at low prices. Huawei has made the
BTS prices drop by 50 percent in comparison with the lowest price offered to
Vietnamese network operators before. Especially, Huawei price is 10 times lower
than the highest peak level.
The representative of a big mobile network operator, who asked to be anonymous,
said that his company has to choose Huawei as the contractor for its telecom
projects, or it would violate the current bidding law.
The current law stipulates that the contractor to be chosen must be the one who
offers the most competitive price.
“Their (Huawei’s) offered prices were always the lowest and lower than any
others. If we had not chosen them, we would have had to explain to inspectors
why we did not choose the cheapest products,” he said.
Big mobile network operators have said that 40-50 percent of their telecom
equipment are from Huawei. However, a telecom expert said the proportion is
higher, about 70-80 percent.
Not only dominating the telecom equipment market, Huawei has also been trying to
conquer the low cost mobile phone set and USB 3G market.
Bui Van Hoa, Deputy General Director of Vien Thong A, the biggest mobile phone
distributor, has noted that Huawei has been following an ambitious plan to
dominate the world market and it has initially succeeded so far.
Huawei, in its finance report, announced that its turnover reached $35 billion
in 2012, and the net profit was $2.5 billion.
Vietnamese told to be cautious with Chinese products
Vietnamese mobile network operators have become beware of the products provided
by the Chinese manufacturer after many countries regard the manufacturer with
suspicion. Huawei is believed to keep a close relation with the Chinese
government and act as the government’s tool to “supervise the world.”
Viettel, one of the Chinese manufacturer’s two Vietnamese biggest partners, has
reduced its reliance on Huawei’s devices by making USB 3G itself. Other mobile
network operators have refused using important devices including the switching
systems made by Huawei.
Huawei’s Vice President — John Suffolk, arrived in Vietnam in late 2012, when
he had working sessions with the Ministry of Information and Communication and
enterprises. He affirmed that Vietnam is one of the most important markets for
Huawei and that Huawei would accept to let its products to be examined by any
bodies to be authorized by local authorities.
However, despite Huawei’s efforts to drive away the suspicions, Vietnamese
enterprises still keep beware of the products from the neighbor.
NCDT