CityPhone being left behind by bigger rivals

Struggling Vietnamese intra-city mobile carrier CityPhone has reported that it has lost at least 1,000 users in recent months to larger cellular rivals VinaPhone, MobiFone and Viettel, and expects losses to continue as the three largest cellcos step up their sales campaigns. It also attributed its poor performance to deteriorating signal quality due to continued new building in its areas of operation, as well as its rivals dropping call prices several times in the last two years. CityPhone, launched by state-run telco Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corporation (VNPT) in Hanoi in 2002 and in Ho Chi Minh City in 2003, uses the IP-based Personal Access System (iPAS) supplied by US-based UTStarcom. The company had over 150,000 subscribers at the end of September, whilst VinaPhone and MobiFone claimed over three million customers each and military-run Viettel had over a million.