Proposal to regulate the starting auction price for 'nice phone numbers'

According to the program of Session 25, on the morning of August 24, at the National Assembly House, the National Assembly Standing Committee gave opinions on explaining, accepting, and revising the draft Law on Telecommunications (amended).

Effective management and use of the Public Telecommunication Service Fund

Discussing at the meeting, delegates highly appreciated and agreed with many contents in the report on explanation, acceptance, and revision as well as the draft Law on Telecommunications (amended). The draft Law has many more reasonable and comprehensive provisions, meeting the requirements of perfecting the legal corridor for the development of the Telecommunications industry, serving the implementation of socio-economic goals.

Participating in contributing opinions, Standing Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Thanh Man suggested that the Drafting Committee pay attention to the contents of perfecting the synchronization of national data infrastructure, ensuring safe technical infrastructure, information security; developing a number of key telecommunications, information technology, and digital enterprises. Agreeing with the adjustment and management of new services, including data center services, cloud computing, and basic telecommunications on the Internet, the Standing Vice Chairman of the National Assembly said that Article 41 of the draft Law is still unclear. The assignment of the Government to specify the list of telecommunications services applying the form of registration and notification requires studying alternative regulations to ensure more appropriateness.

National Assembly Standing Vice Chairman Tran Thanh Man speaks. Photo: Doan Tan/VNA

Regarding some related contents, Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Chi said that for the Public Telecommunication Service Fund, the contribution of telecommunication enterprises to the Fund is an amount of contribution outside of tax regulations, increasing the costs of telecommunication enterprises. However, the content of the Summary Report and practice shows that it is necessary to maintain the regulations on the Public Telecommunication Service Fund.

In the past, the management and use of the Fund has been stagnant. In particular, the Fund's balance is large while the efficiency of using the Fund is not high. According to the Ministry of Finance, the regulation on maintaining the Fund needs to be further considered in terms of the annual contribution to the Fund by telecommunications enterprises must be handled flexibly, in accordance with the needs and contribution capacity of enterprises.

The Deputy Minister of Finance proposed to report to the National Assembly for consideration and review of the regulation of a maximum contribution level, and the specific annual level will be assigned to the Government and the Prime Minister to determine based on the assessment of the remaining Fund balance in the year as well as the needs of the next year and the general operating situation, thereby providing the most appropriate level for the new year that telecommunications enterprises can contribute, in order to use the Fund most effectively, avoiding the situation of too much surplus while this is a contribution outside of the tax regulations of enterprises.

View of the meeting. Photo: Doan Tan/VNA

Market principles determine the price of beautiful mobile phone numbers

Regarding the auction of the right to use telecommunications numbering and Internet resources (stipulated in Articles 48, 50 and 53), some opinions proposed to only regulate the principle issues of auctioning the right to use telecommunications numbering and Internet domain names, while other regulations on the order and procedures of auctions should be referred to the Law on Asset Auction; some opinions suggested that other detailed regulations be assigned to the Government to regulate.

Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Science, Technology and Environment Le Quang Huy said that, taking into account the opinions of National Assembly deputies, the Standing Committee of the Committee has revised the regulations in Clause 4, Article 48; Points c and d, Clause 4, Article 50, and Clause 6, Article 50.

At the same time, accepting the proposed additional comments on the compensation mechanism for enterprises when purchasing and using resources in the case of retrieving telecommunications numbering and Internet resources to serve public interests, the Standing Committee of the Committee has added in Clause 4, Article 48 and Clause 4, Article 53.

Regarding the issue of auctioning beautiful mobile phone numbers ("beautiful sim numbers"), Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung said that there are hundreds of thousands, even millions of beautiful numbers. The previous regulation required each number to be valued and when valuing, a consultant had to be hired. According to Mr. Hung, the cost of valuing can be up to hundreds of millions of VND, but when selling, the price can be many times lower. Therefore, the previous regulation was not feasible.

"This draft Law has amended the content on the regulation of a fixed starting price for a beautiful number. A beautiful number is offered to millions of people interested, its market value is very high. When there are a large number of people interested, the beautiful number will be priced closer, according to the principle of market decision. If the draft Law on this issue is passed, it will be feasible," said Minister Nguyen Manh Hung.

According to the Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Science, Technology and Environment, Le Quang Huy, one issue is that the auction of telecommunications numbers or intangible resources such as Internet resources has been regulated in the Law on Asset Auction, the Law on Radio Frequencies, and the Law on Telecommunications, but implementation has encountered difficulties. Therefore, from the perspective of law development, we try to have regulations on the starting auction price, but the Government must have specific decrees and instructions so that the Law can be effectively implemented in practice.

Concluding the meeting, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai said that regarding the Public Telecommunications Service Fund, the National Assembly Standing Committee agreed on the regulations on the Fund as directed to receive explanations and improvements from the reviewing agency, and requested the reviewing agency to coordinate with the drafting agency to continue reviewing and improving the regulations on the Fund, ensuring publicity, transparency, and a basis for inspection and control.

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai requested the agency in charge of appraisal and the agency in charge of drafting to continue reviewing, researching, and ensuring the consistency and synchronization of the legal system, in accordance with international treaties to which Vietnam is a member; comprehensively reviewing regulations, policies, business conditions, and management of basic telecommunications services on the Internet, data centers, and cloud computing; regulations on management, use, design, and installation of telecommunications works; rights and obligations of telecommunications enterprises; connection and sharing of telecommunications infrastructure, information security, etc.

Also on the morning of August 24, the National Assembly Standing Committee discussed and considered approving a draft Resolution stipulating that inspection agencies are allowed to deduct a portion of recovered amounts discovered through inspection after submitting them to the state budget.

Concluding the meeting, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai affirmed that the National Assembly Standing Committee supports the regulations on the above issue. The majority of members of the National Assembly Standing Committee participating in the vote approved the Resolution in principle; regarding the deduction level, the opinions and votes of the members of the National Assembly Standing Committee will be sought by ballot later.

According to VNA/Tin Tuc Newspaper

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