Auction of telecommunication service codes and numbers brings in billions of dollars

This is the result of the auction of the right to use telecommunications codes and numbers organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology in collaboration with Vietnam Partnership Auction Company (VPA) on January 22.

The right to use telecommunication codes and numbers starts at one billion VND. Registration and participation are done online, the price per payment is 20 million VND.

According to the results of the morning session, code numbers 1555 and 1500 were priced at 1.02 billion VND. Meanwhile, code numbers 1299 and 1558 were successfully auctioned at one billion VND, exactly the starting price. Thus, with four codes and numbers, the auction earned more than 4 billion VND.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong, Director of the Asset Auction Center of Vietnam Partnership Auction Company, the event is “an important milestone in the management, exploitation and allocation of national telecommunications resources”, when the right to use telecommunications codes and numbers, specifically four-digit nationwide information answering service numbers, are put up for public and transparent auction.

She said that the four codes and numbers auctioned today, including 1500, 1555, 1299 and 1558, have high economic, commercial and brand value, and are of “special interest” to businesses, used to deploy customer care services, consulting and providing information nationwide.

Deputy Director of the Department of Telecommunications Tran Duy Hai said that previously, telecommunication service codes and numbers were allocated directly, but this time, individuals and organizations that won the auction will own them, helping to increase revenue for the budget and improve transparency.

A four-digit service prefix is ​​a code, a short number, usually consisting of four digits, used by a business, organization or agency to provide services over the phone. These numbers mainly serve customer care hotline, technical support, consulting, scheduling, surveys or automatic information provision.

Compared to a regular landline or mobile phone number, the first four digits help users remember, make it convenient to contact, and create brand recognition. In Vietnam, numbers of this type are managed by the Department of Telecommunications.

The auction of the right to use telecommunications codes and numbers is one of the major policies in state management of telecommunications, aiming to innovate the method of allocating telecommunications resources according to market mechanisms to ensure openness, transparency and efficiency.

According to a representative of the Telecommunications Department, in the coming time, based on market demand, the Department will prepare the necessary content and infrastructure and put more codes up for auction to provide to organizations and individuals wishing to use the service.