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Cell phone operators warn users to rely on landlines during Tet


Major mobile network providers have told customers to prepare for network blockages on the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday, which begins on January 26.


Phone networks had already experienced overloads, about a week before the holiday.

Users of VinaPhone and MobiFone networks have complained about being unable to contact other network users including Viettel subscribers.

Many MobiFone subscribers said their cell phones had informed them of a “connection error” when they tried to call over the last few days.

In previous years, mobile network jams only occurred on the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday and a couple of days leading up to it.

Some phone users are carrying three different types of SIM cards so they can switch networks if there are problems.

Vietnam Posts and Telecommunication Group (VNPT) provides both MobiFone and VinaPhone network services while Viettel Telecom under the Military Telecommunications Corporation provides the Viettel network.

Despite hopes that networks would stay clear, the providers have been advising customers to keep landline and Internet phone services available for use.

MobiFone has set up an extra 20,000 transceivers and improved its 20 mobile switching centers (MSC) nationwide.

It has also boosted capacity to cope with four to five times the normal demand for calling and texting.

Viettel Telecom said it set up 15,000 base transceiver stations (BTS) last year while VinaPhone BTS’s 6,000 would be increased to 10,000 by Tet.

All providers, however, were struggling to keep pace with the skyrocketing number of subscribers.

Bui Quoc Viet, director of VNPT’s Communications and Public Relations Center, told a press conference on Friday that subscribers should be prepared to use landlines in case of overloads especially on Lunar New Year’s Eve (January 25).

Reported by Tran Hung