The Hanoi Times - Mobile-phone owners have been warned to expect jammed lines o­n New Year’s Eve, despite extra work to improve the network. During the holidays, telecom traffic volume increases by 20 to 40 percent.

Mobile users have been advised to rely o­n land phones o­n New Year’s Eve to make sure of getting through.

To meet mobile demand during the busy Tet festival, Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), mobile-service provider to 50 million people, has improved mobile phone network.

The VNPT started work three months ago o­n improving domestic and foreign network capacity, and the mobile and internet networks.

Mobilefone, o­ne of VNPT’s mobile phone network providers, has also upgraded the capacity of short-message services (SMS) to minimise network obstruction.

It also upgraded its network capacity in large cities, including Hanoi , HCM City , Can Tho and Da Nang .

In HCM City , Mobifone installed 4,000 radio transceiver stations and another 12,000 are planned later this year.

Meanwhile, VinaPhone, another mobile network provider with VNPT, has invested in the installation of more base transceiver stations (BTS).

Military-run Viettel also has taken steps to avoid network obstruction during Tet, including the installation of nine mobile-service switching centres to increase the capacity of its SMS.

At present, Vietnam has nearly 80 million mobile subscribers, of which Viettel accounts for 26 million, Mobifone 26 million and VinaPhone 20 millions.