Vietnam's three largest mobile operators, Viettel, MobiFone, and VinaPhone, have been cleared of suspicions of price fixing following a government probe into recent 3G tariff hikes.
The Competition Administration Department of Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade recently concluded an investigation after the state-owned operators all increased 3G prices on the same day, VietnamNet Bridge reported.
Vinaphone and MobiFone are both independent subsidiaries of state-owned telecom giant VNPT, while Viettel is owned by the Vietnamese Ministry of Defence.
The Department determined that the price hike was implemented because the operators are facing subscriber growth and demand for bandwidth that exceeds their current capacity, necessitating additional network investments.
The probe uncovered no evidence of collusion in terms of fixing of minimum re-sale prices, and the three operators all submitted their tariff hike proposals to the regulator at different times.