CONDITIONS FOR INVESTMENT IN BASIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES FOR FOREIGN INVESTORS

CONDITIONS FOR INVESTMENT IN BASIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES FOR FOREIGN INVESTORS

What are the basic conditions for investment in telecommunications services for foreign investors in Vietnam? To find out in detail the conditions for business of basic foreign-invested telecommunications services, please refer to the article below:

What are basic telecommunications services? 

Currently, Vietnamese law classifies telecommunications services into basic telecommunications services and value-added telecommunications services. In particular, the service industries listed in the list of basic telecommunications services are currently specified in Clause 1, Article 9 of Decree No. 25/2011/ND-CP:

Article 9. Classification of telecommunication services

  1. Basic telecommunication services include:
  2. a) Telephone service;
  3. b) Fax service;
  4. c) Data transmission service;
  5. d) Photo transmission service;
  6. e) Message Service;
  7. f) Video conference services;
  8. g) Leased line services;
  9. h) Internet connection service;
  10. i) Other basic telecommunication services as stipulated by the Ministry of Information and Communications.

LAW ON ADJUSTMENT FOR INVESTMENT IN BASIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES WITH FOREIGN CAPITAL

 Foreign investors who want to invest in basic telecommunications services will need to meet the investment conditions in accordance with the provisions of Vietnamese law and international treaties to which Vietnam is a signatory. Specifically, foreign investors’ investment in basic telecommunications services will be governed by the following documents: Law on Investment 2020, Law on Telecommunications 2009, WTO Schedule of Commitments, Free Trade Agreement FTAs, ASEAN Framework Agreement on AFAS Services.

 Conditions for investment in basic telecommunications services according to international regulations (According to WTO, FTAs, AFAS)

  •  Service industries: WTO, FTAs, AFAS apply these conditions to services: Voice services (CPC 7521); Private channel rental service (CPC 7522** + 7523**); packet switching data transmission service (CPC 7523**); Channel Switching Data Transmission Service (CPC 7523**), Telex Service (CPC 7523**), Facsimile Service (CPC 7521**+7529**); Telegraph Services (CPC 7523**)
  • Conditions on the percentage of charter capital ownership of foreign investors in economic organizations. For services without network infrastructure, foreign investors are not allowed to own charter capital exceeding 65%, while for services with network infrastructure, it does not exceed 49%.

CONDITIONS FOR INVESTMENT IN BASIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES UNDER VIETNAMESE LAW 

In case foreign investors invest in basic telecommunications services for the first time 

Foreign investors who come to Vietnam and are investing in telecommunications services for the first time will need to pay attention to meeting the following conditions if they want to invest in this field.”     

 

  • Investors who have investment projects and carry out investment registration procedures or investment verification at state management agencies in charge of investment to be granted investment certificates and business registration certificates. Currently, the agency competent to issue investment certificates is the Investment Department of the Department of Planning and Investment; Management boards of industrial parks, export processing zones, hi-tech parks, economic zones and investment registration agencies in provinces.
  • Licensed to provide telecommunications services by the Ministry of Information and Communications. Having a Business Registration Certificate or a Certificate of Investment in Telecommunication Services Business;
  • Having sufficient financial capacity, organizational structure and human resources suitable for the scale of the project;
  • Having measures to ensure the safety of telecommunications infrastructure and information security.
  • The investor has prepared detailed technical plans and feasible business plans in accordance with the strategy and planning for Vietnam’s telecommunications development, regulations on telecommunications resources, connections, tariffs, standards, technical regulations, network quality and telecommunications services;
  • The legal capital will vary depending on the type of telecommunications network that the foreign investor intends to establish, ranging from 5 to 500 billion VND. The level of committed investment capital must be ensured according to the regulations of each type of telecommunications network that the foreign investor intends to establish, from 15 to 2,500 billion VND

In case a foreign-invested enterprise established in Vietnam conducts investment and business activities in telecommunications services

In this case, the investor must meet the following two conditions

  1. The enterprise must complete procedures to amend and supplement the Business Registration Certificate and the Business Registration Certificate that the enterprise already has;
  2. The enterprise must meet the conditions to apply for a sub-license to conduct telecommunications services as in the case of the first investment mentioned above

The above is information on the topic “Basic conditions for investment in telecommunications services for foreign investors” from the staff of Siglaw Law Firm. If you have any problems that need to be resolved, please contact Siglaw for the fastest and completely free support.

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Lawyer Dung Le (Elena)

CEO of Siglaw Law Firm

Lawyer Le Dung has more than 10 years of experience providing legal advice to investors from more than 10 countries such as the US, Singapore, Canada, Denmark, Japan, Korea, China…