Pursuant to …;

Amending temporary regulations on the management of termination charges, traffic limits, and connection fees for inbound international IP telephone services

____________________________

THE MINISTER OF POSTS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Pursuant to Decree No. 90/2002/NĐ-CP dated November 11, 2002 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications;

Pursuant to Decision No. 99/1998/QĐ-TTg dated May 26, 1998 of the Prime Minister on price and postal and telecommunications tariff management;

Pursuant to Circular No. 03/1999/TT-TCBĐ dated May 11, 1999 of the General Post Office Administration guiding the implementation of Decree No. 109/1997/NĐ-CP dated November 12, 1997 of the Government on postal and telecommunications services and Decision No. 99/1998/QĐ-TTg dated May 26, 1998 of the Prime Minister on price and fee management for postal and telecommunications services;

At the proposal of the Director of the Planning and Finance Department,

DECISION:

Article 1.

1. The termination charge for international IP telephone service of inbound international IP telephone services to Vietnam is the fee that foreign operators pay to Vietnamese enterprises authorized to provide international IP telephone services to implement the final termination of calls in Vietnam.

2. Enterprises providing international IP telephone services shall negotiate and agree on international termination charges with foreign partners based on:

- For enterprises providing both international PSTN telephone services and international IP telephone services simultaneously: the fee must not be lower than 0.28 USD per minute;

- For enterprises providing only international IP telephone services: the fee must not be lower than 0.27 USD per minute.

3. The termination charges stipulated in Clause 2 of this Article shall apply to all IP telephone termination traffic in Vietnam, regardless of whether the final call termination occurs in fixed networks or mobile networks.

Article 2.

1. Enterprises providing international IP telephone services shall be allocated international IP telephone traffic limits to Vietnam based on the number of Points of Presence (POP) developed in provinces and centrally governed cities (the entire national mobile network is considered as one POP) as follows:

- From 1 to 4 POPs: 4 million minutes/month;

- From 5 to 8 POPs: 5 million minutes/month;

- From 9 to 12 POPs: 7 million minutes/month;

- From 13 to 18 POPs: 9 million minutes/month;

- From 19 to 25 POPs: 11 million minutes/month;

- Over 25 POPs: 12 million minutes/month.

2. The traffic limits stipulated in Clause 1 of this Article shall apply to all enterprises and shall be aggregated for all international IP telephone traffic to Vietnam provided by the enterprise, regardless of whether this traffic terminates in fixed or mobile networks, in provinces where the enterprise providing IP telephone services has developed POPs or not.

3. Enterprises shall report to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications the number of POPs currently in operation and the introduction of new POPs into service so that the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications can periodically publish this information for enterprises.

4. Enterprises permitted may proactively offset traffic within their monthly limits across quarters (calculated according to the calendar year from January 1 to December 31) up to a maximum of 10% of the monthly traffic limit granted. Any traffic exceeding 10% of the monthly traffic limit will be considered excess traffic for the quarter and must pay additional connection fees as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 3 of this Decision.

5. Based on the total volume of international telephone traffic (IP and PSTN) entering Vietnam, and the number of enterprises providing IP telephone services, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications shall announce increases or decreases in traffic limits in accordance with market fluctuations.

Article 3. Connection fees for inbound international IP telephone services

1. Basic connection fees:

a) For direct IP international calls terminating in provincial fixed networks (including urban wireless networks), the basic connection fee paid to the provincial network is 0.10 USD per minute;

b) For IP international calls terminating in provincial fixed networks via inter-provincial PSTN long-distance networks, in addition to the 0.10 USD per minute connection fee paid to the provincial network, the enterprise pays an additional 0.10 USD per minute connection fee to the inter-provincial network;

c) For direct IP international calls terminating in the nationwide mobile network:

- In the case where the IP international network of the enterprise connects to one (01) MSC gateway of each network, the corresponding connection fee paid to the mobile network is 0.15 USD per minute;

- In the case where the IP international network of the enterprise connects to all MSC gateways of each network, the corresponding connection fee paid to the mobile network is 0.10 USD per minute;

d) For IP international calls terminating in the nationwide mobile network via inter-provincial PSTN long-distance networks, in addition to the 0.10 USD per minute connection fee paid to the mobile network, the enterprise pays an additional 0.10 USD per minute connection fee to the inter-provincial network.

2. Additional connection fees:

- For international IP telephone traffic to Vietnam exceeding the limit (calculated quarterly), in addition to the basic connection fees stipulated in Clause 1 of this Article, enterprises providing international IP telephone services must pay additional connection fees of 0.35 USD per minute.

- The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications will issue guidelines on the management and collection mechanisms for these additional connection fees so that enterprises can comply with the provisions of the Postal and Telecommunications Ordinance.

Article 4. Traffic reports

1. By the 20th day of each month at the latest, enterprises are responsible for reporting to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications the data on international PSTN and IP telephone traffic originating from and terminating in Vietnam for the previous month for provinces and centrally governed cities, dedicated networks, and the nationwide mobile network. Enterprises failing to report fully and on time will have their traffic limits for the following month reduced by 3%.

2. Based on the reports submitted by enterprises, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications will periodically publish international PSTN and international IP telephone traffic originating from and terminating in Vietnam every quarter.

Article 5. This Decision takes effect from July 1, 2003 and replaces Decision No. 66/2003/QĐ-BBCVT dated March 28, 2003 of the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications.

Article 6. The Head of the Office, Heads of Departments under the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, Heads of units under the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, General Directors, Directors of enterprises providing international IP telephone services, and related units are responsible for implementing this Decision.