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:

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 telecommunications services

1. Basic telecommunication services include:

 

1. a) Telephone service;

 

1. b) Fax service;

 

1. c) Data transmission service;

 

1. d) Photo transmission service;

 

1. e) Message Service;

 

1. f) Video conference services;

 

1. g) leased line services;

 

1. h) Internet connection service;

 

1. 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 registration certificate and Certificate of Enterprise Registration. Currently, the agency competent to issue investment registration certificate 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 the provinces
• Granted a telecommunications service business license by the Ministry of Information and Communications. 
• Having a business registration certificate or a certificate of investment in telecommunications service business; 
• Having sufficient financial capacity, organizational apparatus and human resources suitable to the scale of the project; Take measures to ensure the safety of telecommunications infrastructure and information security. 
• The investor has prepared in detail technical plans and feasible business plans in accordance with Vietnam’s telecommunications development strategy and planning, 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 foreign investors intend to establish, ranging from 5 to 500 billion VND. The level of investment commitment capital needs to be ensured according to the regulations of each type of telecommunications network that the foreign investor intends to establish, from 15 to 2500 billion VND.

IN CASE A FOREIGN-INVESTED ENTERPRISE ESTABLISHED IN VIETNAM CONDUCTS INVESTMENT IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE BUSINESS ACTIVITIES

In this case, the investor will have to meet the following two conditions 

• The enterprise must carry out procedures for amending and supplementing the certificate of Enterprise Registration and the investment registration certificate that the enterprise already has; 
• Enterprises must meet the conditions for applying for a sub-license to operate telecommunications services as in the case of initial investment mentioned above

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 solved, please contact Siglaw for completely free support as quickly as possible.

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