Mobile phone operators in Vietnam are targeting rural areas for new subscribers as urban demand cools, local newspaper Vietnam Investment Reviews reported Monday.

Viettel Mobile and EVN Telecom, which have seen the number of subscribers in Hanoi capital and southern Ho Chi Minh City halve since 2006, are issuing special rural area charging policies.

Viettel would consider a special charging framework for rural areas, which would be lower than in urban areas. The firm's subscribers in areas outside Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City account for 70 percent of its total network of more than six million users.

Meanwhile, EVN Telecom plans to sign up one million new subscribers this year, raising its total subscribers to 2.5 million, of whom 60 percent come from rural areas, many of which are becoming developed.

Other mobile phone operators such as MobiFone, VinaPhone, S- Fone and HT Mobile are still focusing on urban market due to their various kinds of services and residents' higher living standards.

Vietnam has eyed 55-60 telephones per 100 residents, and 35-40 percent of local people accessing to the Internet in 2010.

The country, with a population of over 83 million, is expected to have 38 million phone subscribers and 6 million Internet ones by the end of this year, respectively up from 27.4 million and 4 million late last year.

Source: Xinhua