Pursuant to …;

Issuing temporarily the rates for IP (VOIP) telephone services across provinces and internationally using prepaid cards

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THE MINISTER OF POSTS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS

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

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 Department 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 rate management for postal and telecommunications services;

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

DECISION:

Article 1. Issuing the rates for IP (VoIP) telephone services across provinces and internationally using prepaid cards called from fixed-line PSTN networks as follows:

1. Rates for IP (VoIP) telephone communication across provinces using prepaid cards:

a) The rates for IP (VoIP) telephone communication across provinces using prepaid cards issued by enterprises providing IP (VoIP) inter-provincial services shall not be lower than the following levels:

- For communication lines in Region 1: 682 dong/minute;

- For communication lines in Region 2: 1,091 dong/minute;

- For communication lines in Region 3: 1,364 dong/minute. Inter-provincial communication regions are defined in Appendix 1 of this Decision.

b) The rates for IP (VoIP) telephone communication across provinces using prepaid cards are calculated per minute. A call lasting less than one minute is charged as one minute. Any remaining time at the end of a call that is less than one minute is also charged as one minute.

c) The rates for IP (VoIP) telephone communication across provinces using prepaid cards are reduced during the period from 23:00 on the previous day to 07:00 on the following morning on weekdays, holidays, and Sundays. The specific reduction rate is determined by the enterprise providing IP (VoIP) inter-provincial services issuing prepaid cards but must not exceed 30% of the rates specified in points a and b of Clause 1 of this Article.

2. Rates for IP (VoIP) telephone communication internationally using prepaid cards:

a) The rates for IP (VoIP) telephone communication internationally using prepaid cards issued by enterprises providing IP (VoIP) international services shall not be higher than 0.64 USD/minute for any country or territory.

b) The rates for IP (VoIP) telephone communication internationally using prepaid cards are calculated based on the first minute and subsequent blocks of 6 seconds. A call lasting less than one minute is charged as one minute. Any remaining time at the end of a call that is less than six seconds is charged as one block of six seconds.

c) The rates for IP (VoIP) telephone communication internationally using prepaid cards are reduced during the period from 23:00 on the previous day to 07:00 on the following morning on weekdays, holidays, and Sundays. The specific reduction rate is determined by the enterprise but must not exceed 20% of the rates specified in points a and b of Clause 2 of this Article.

3. For IP (VoIP) telephone communication across provinces and internationally using prepaid cards at public points, in addition to the rates and calculation methods stipulated in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article, the enterprise managing the public point may charge additional service fees. The level of these service fees is determined by the enterprise managing the public point but must ensure non-discriminatory treatment among different types of prepaid cards issued by enterprises providing IP (VoIP) inter-provincial and international services.

4. The rates specified in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article do not include value-added tax.

Article 2

1. Enterprises providing IP (VoIP) telephone services across provinces and internationally using prepaid cards are responsible for:

- Publicly announcing the denominations of prepaid cards and their validity periods;

- Setting the rates for IP (VoIP) telephone communication across provinces using prepaid cards corresponding to the denominations of the cards issued by the enterprise based on Clause 1 of Article 1;

- Setting the rates for IP (VoIP) telephone communication internationally using prepaid cards corresponding to each country or territory based on the denominations of the cards issued by the enterprise based on Clause 2 of Article 1;

- Reporting to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications before officially issuing the denominations of cards with corresponding communication rates.

2. Monthly, before the 20th day of the following month, enterprises providing IP (VoIP) telephone services across provinces and internationally using prepaid cards are responsible for reporting to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications the situation regarding the provision and use of IP (VoIP) telephone services across provinces and internationally using prepaid cards by the enterprise, including the following contents:

- The quantity and retail revenue of the enterprise in the corresponding month for each denomination of card;

- The number of new activated cards in the month;

- The number of activated cards that have been fully used or sold but not activated and have expired in the month;

- The volume and revenue from rates of IP (VoIP) telephone communication across provinces using prepaid cards issued by the enterprise according to regions;

- The volume and revenue from rates of IP (VoIP) telephone communication internationally using prepaid cards issued by the enterprise.

Article 3. This Decision takes effect from July 1, 2003.

Article 4. The Head of the Office, the Director of the Planning and Finance Department, Heads of units under the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, General Directors, Directors of telecommunications service enterprises, General Directors, Directors of IP (VoIP) inter-provincial and international service enterprises, and Heads of related units are responsible for implementing this Decision./.