Tag: Vietnam

Commune post offices must be brought up to date

Posted by | Aug 6, 2008 | |

Though commune post offices have played a crucial role in the national postal system, they will soon be subject to an overhaul to bring them more in line with latest developments in the area.
According to statistics from Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), the first commune post offices opened 10 years ago, and now there are 8,025 nationwide, each of which serves, on average, around 4,500 people.
In the beginning, these post offices offered necessary services like delivering letters, cards, gifts, newspapers and magazines and selling stamps and envelops.
They also supplied public telephone and telegraph services.
In addition, they offered some free papers and magazines for local people to enhance public knowledge.
Commune post offices then began adding new services like money transfers, bill collection and mobicard sales.
However, at present these post offices offered out-of-date services and required investment for improvement, said Hop.
VNPT should supply high-speed Internet to these offices and offer new services to make the offices more valuable cultural centres for people in the countryside, he added.
The province was ready to invest in infrastructure for those offices, said Ho Duc Phuoc, Deputy Chairman of Nghe An Province’s People’s Committee, and VNPT only needed to improve technologies and services to meet demand.
The cultural post offices should house Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) and Base Transmission Stations (BTS), said Do Trung Ta, special envoy to the Prime Minister of Information Technology.
Do Ngoc Binh, the director of Viet Nam Postal Communication (VnPost) agreed with the idea and added that motorbike and car insurance cards could also be sold at the offices.
VnPost had classified cultural post offices so suitable models could be established for each locality, said Binh.
Quang Ngai Province is one area making progress, with 30 out of 162 offices connected to the Internet and free Internet service every Tuesday and Thursday.
There are also base transmission stations (BTS) in the province’s cultural post offices.
The Ministry of Information and Communication was submitting a plan to the Prime Minister to turn commune cultural post offices into public post offices, said Hop.
The Ministry of Information and Communication and Intel Viet Nam yesterday also signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a Connect Communities Programme in which public telecommunication spaces would be established in rural areas of Viet Nam.
However, as far as business goes, each year VNPT loses billions of dong per year from these cultural post offices, according to Pham Long Tran, the chairman of VNPT’s executive board.
According to VNPT statistics, the sales of a commune’s cultural post offices have risen from VND 93,000 (USD 5.6) per month in 1999 to VND2.35 million (USD 1,407) per month in 2007. However, this was not enough to offset the VNPT’s operation costs.
In addition, sales were decreasing as mobiphone cards and public telephone services dwindled with a rise in land line subscribers, said Ngo Van Thuc, the director of Bac Ninh Province Post Office.
Also, households used to rely more heavily upon newspapers before television and the Internet became widespread, but things had changed, Cuong said.
Hopefully, services and activities provided by such offices would change, so they could regain their position in commune culture, said Cuong.

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TNT starts the only scheduled road services between China and Southeast Asia

Posted by | Jul 4, 2008 | |

TNT announced the start of the only scheduled road services between China and five countries of Southeast Asia, using its Asia Road Network. From China, international road services to Southeast Asia will first be available from the South of the country. In a second step, TNT will link the Asia Road Network to its Chinese domestic network to offer customers seamless road connections from many parts of China to Southeast Asia.
The Asia Road Network connects to TNT’s international express network at Nanning, the capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province.
Introduced at the end of 2005, TNT’s Asia Road Network is a fast, reliable, and secure integrated road network linking China with over 125 cities across 5,000 km in Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Laos. It features fully inclusive secure, door-to-door, day-definite distribution service with complete track and trace capabilities, supported by a 24/7 real-time GPS tracking system. The trucks depart on schedule like trains, leaving to arrive at one of TNT’s hubs and depots, in time for parcels to be unloaded, sorted, and shipped out again or delivered locally.
Due to China’s geographical proximity and close business links, Vietnam, in particular, will benefit from TNT’s completed Asia Road Network. As Vietnam’s economy continues to grow, bilateral trade volume between both countries is on the increase and offers strong business opportunities for TNT.

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DHL Vietnam gives USD 35,000 to charity on 20th anniversary

Posted by | Jun 29, 2008 | |

The two charities, the Operation Smile Foundation (OSF) and the Saigon Children Charity (SCC), share a common goal of offering disadvantaged Vietnamese children access to greater opportunities.

While OSF aims to transform the future of thousands of children by providing operations to correct cleft lips and palates, the SCC helps underprivileged children receive a proper education, DHL said.

In partnership with the two charities, DHL will sponsor OSF surgeries for twenty children and donate twenty bicycles to underprivileged children through the SCC.

DHL, which commenced services in 1988, was the first international air-express company to serve Vietnam.

DHL Express serves over 40 locations in Vietnam and has the largest network in the industry.

DHL Worldwide and the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) formed the DHLVNPT Express Ltd. joint-venture company in January last year.

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End of nation’s postal subsidies in sight (Vietnam)

Posted by | Jun 12, 2008 | |

Viet Nam’s postal sector may see tough times ahead, as the Government is considers cutting loss compensations in the sector to heal the ailing industry by 2013.
The Government will cut subsidies to the postal sector in 2013. How are the relevant authorities preparing for this?
The Government recently passed a public postal development plan, in which will gradually reduce subsidies to the postal sector, and completely end them in 2013. This was a very important decision, and it will have a strong impact on the sector.
We can see that the 2013 deadline is appropriate, despite the fact that it is unprecedented in Viet Nam. However, the separation is a litter bit late and needs the efforts of both the postal sector and the Government.
Can you tell me more about what the Government will do for the postal sector, before leaving it alone?
First of all, we’re giving the sector a 5-year transitional period, which will help it to prepare for the future.
Secondly, there will be two types of postal entities. One will belong to the Government and will be geared towards public service, while the other will be privately owned and will operate with market principles.
However, service prices at State-owned postal companies will be at least 10 times less than those of privately-owned companies.
Is it true that the ministry is also considering an adjustment to the prices of some postal services?
This is a very hot topic. The Ministry of Information and Communication has directed the postal sector to create a price adjustment roadmap for the near future.
In fact, the current price of postage stamps is very low, well below operating costs. An increase to service prices would help local postal operators improve postal networks and invest in new technologies.
However, as the economy is facing difficulties now with skyrocketing inflation rates, timing for any hikes would not be decided until next year.

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Postal service to get new legal framework in Vietnam

Posted by | Jun 10, 2008 | |

Viet Nam is updating the set of laws surrounding the post in order to guide postal activities and control new market developments, especially the participation of domestic and foreign logistics companies.

Viet Nam would also raise the quality of postal services by separating the post from telecommunications and establishing an independent postal enterprise, the Viet Nam Posts Corporation, said Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Nguyen Thanh Hung.

He said the ministry was considering raising the price of postage stamps from VND800 to between VND1,200-VND1,500.

Hung said the present price was below operating costs, but added that a hike would help local postal operators improve postal networks and invest in new technologies, as the Government was still paying compensation for losses in the postal sector. However, he said the timing of any hike would not be decided until next year.

Hung was speaking as about 150 delegates from 30 countries gathered in Ha Noi for the 31st Asian Pacific Postal Executive Council (APPU-EC) meeting.

They will focus on such things as domestic express mail services (EMS), mail security and e-business.

According to the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC), several new postal services will be outlined at the meeting, such as e-post from South Korea.

“The aim is to strengthen co-operation among postal administrations in the Asia Pacific region,” said Nguyen Thanh Hung.

Hung said the five-day event would also discuss and harmonise regional views on proposals for the Universal Postal Union Congress later this year.

“Viet Nam continues to develop its postal sector, and I hope the event will help us gain more practical experience from member countries,” said Hung

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