VietNamNet Bridge – On January 14 Trinh Minh Chau, General Director of the Hanoi Telecom Joint Stock Company, the operator of HT Mobile network announced the firm’s plan to replace CDMA with GSM technology.

She said the Ministry of Information and Communications authorized HT Mobile to change its technology from CDMA to GSM.

Accordingly, HT Mobile will still use its current 800 Mhz frequency and up to 80% of old equipment. The transfer will be complete within six months.

Chau confirmed that the change will not negatively affect HT Mobile subscribers. Current subscribers can still make calls as normal during the transition period. More importantly, their numbers will not change.

The firm will provide free GSM-based mobile phones to subscribers whose mobile phones are not GSM-supported. However, HT Mobile has not calculated the number of these customers yet.

Chau also said they will support any subscriber who wants to stop using HT Mobile’s service and subscribe to another network.

Experts said that HT Mobile’s admission to its failure in choosing CDMA technology will greatly impact the two remaining CDMA mobile networks, S-Fone and EVN Telecom.

Though CDMA is not favored in Vietnam, it is highly regarded throughout the world.

(Source: VNE)