The Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group has complained that the power utility Electricity of Vietnam is threatening to remove its cables from electric poles unless the former accepts higher prices for using them.

Pham Long Tran, chairman of VNPT, said he has sent a note asking the ministries of Telecommunication and Information, Finance and Industry and Trade to intervene before EVN takes its wires down.

Power firms in the Mekong Delta Tien Giang and Kien Giang Provinces, and the northern Ha Nam, Nam Dinh and Thai Binh Provinces have “put pressure on” local members of VNPT, asking them to sign deals with new prices or their wires will be removed, Tran said in his note.

The new prices asked are between four to nine times higher than current rates, he said.

For example, poles between 10.5-12.5 meters high will be rented out at more than VND48,000 (US$2.60) a month instead of VND6,000 while taller poles will cost VND109,000 instead of VND27,500.

Tran said VNPT has been negotiating the prices with EVN for the whole of last year but the two sides have not been able to reach an agreement.

He said with much higher rentals for the poles, VNPT would have to increase prices for the services it provides.

VNPT had already asked the Ministry of Finance to fix the rent before Tran sent his note this month.

Reported by Tra Son