Telecommunications activities are primarily governed by the Law on Telecommunications 2023 and Decree 163/2023/ND-CP (hereinafter collectively referred to as the “Vietnamese Telecommunications Laws”). The Vietnamese Telecommunications Laws stipulate two main compliance obligations that enterprises providing telecommunications services in Vietnam must adhere to: (i) Registering or notifying the provision of telecommunications services, or (ii) Applying for a Telecommunications License.
Depending on the specific type of telecommunications service, the Vietnamese Telecommunications Laws prescribe the method for determining the obligations that a telecommunications enterprise must comply with by combining the methods of enumeration and exclusion, as follows:
- Article 42 of the Law on Telecommunications 2023 enumerates the telecommunications services that are exempt from a Telecommunications License, registration, and notification of service provision;
- Subsequently, Articles 44 and 45 of Decree 163/2024/ND-CP (“Decree 163”) enumerate the telecommunications services that require registration or notification of service provision;
- If a telecommunications activity does not fall into the two aforementioned categories, it may be required to carry out the procedure to apply for a Telecommunications License.
The following sections of this article will provide a brief introduction to the above-mentioned cases for the attention of organizations and enterprises to ensure compliance when conducting telecommunications activities in Vietnam.
1. Circumstances and services exempt from registration, notification of service provision, and application for a Telecommunications License
Article 42 of the Law on Telecommunications 2023 stipulates the cases where enterprises providing telecommunications services are exempt from applying for a Telecommunications License, as well as from registering and notifying the provision of their services. The specific cases are as follows:
Organizations and individuals engaged in telecommunications activities are exempt from a telecommunications license, registration, and notification of service provision in the following cases:
1.1. Trading in telecommunications goods
Telecommunications goods are defined as telecommunications materials and equipment that can be traded, bought, or sold on the market, according to Article 3.6 of the Law on Telecommunications 2023. The trading of telecommunications goods involves investment in manufacturing, exchanging, buying, selling, and leasing telecommunications goods for profit-making purposes, as stipulated in Article 10.1.b of the Law on Telecommunications 2023.
Thus, individuals and organizations engaged in the trading of telecommunications goods will be exempt from a telecommunications license, registration, and notification of service provision.
1.2. Providing telecommunications services in the form of a telecommunications service agency
A telecommunications service agency is an organization or individual that enters into a contract with a telecommunications enterprise to provide telecommunications services to users, as defined in Article 3.30 of the Law on Telecommunications 2023. When operating as a telecommunications service agency, such organizations and individuals are exempt from a telecommunications license, registration, and notification of service provision.
1.3. Leasing transmission lines to provide telecommunications application services
Telecommunications application services are services that use a telecommunications network to provide application services in the fields of information technology, broadcasting, television, commerce, finance, banking, culture, information, health, education, and other sectors. Organizations that lease transmission lines through contracts with telecommunications enterprises to provide telecommunications application services are exempt from a telecommunications license, registration, and notification of service provision.
1.4. Private telecommunications networks where network members belong to the same organization and do not establish their own telecommunications transmission lines
A private telecommunications network (Private Network) is a telecommunications network established by an organization operating in Vietnam to provide telecommunications services and telecommunications application services to its members, not for the purpose of deriving direct profits from the network’s operation, as per Article 3.16. Accordingly, the establishment of a private telecommunications network is also a case for exemption from a telecommunications license, registration, and notification of service provision.
2. Circumstances and services requiring registration or notification of service provision
2.1. Services requiring registration for provision of Telecommunications Services
According to Article 44.1 of Decree 163, before providing data center services, an enterprise must register and be granted a certificate of registration for the provision of telecommunications services. Data center services are defined as telecommunications services that provide information processing, storage, and retrieval capabilities to users via a telecommunications network by leasing part or all of a data center.
The conditions, dossier, timeline, processing procedures, and related notes concerning the registration procedure for providing data center services are detailed in Article 44.1 of Decree 163.
2.2. Services requiring Notification for provision of Telecommunications Services
Organizations and enterprises must notify the provision of telecommunications services before supplying services in the following cases:
a)Enterprises providing basic telecommunications services on the Internet, cloud computing services, email services, voicemail services, and value-added facsimileservices;
b)Foreignorganizations providing cross-border services to users within the territory of Vietnam for the following telecommunications services: Basic telecommunications services on the Internet, data center services, and cloud computing services.
In the event that an enterprise provides both cloud computing services and data center services concurrently, it is not required to carry out a separate notification procedure for the cloud computing service. Instead, it shall declare the information regarding the cloud computing service in the Application for Registration of Telecommunications Service Provision, using Form No. 25 in the Appendix issued with Decree 163, and may provide the cloud computing service after having submitted a valid registration dossier.
The dossier, timeline, processing procedures, and related notes concerning the notification procedure for providing telecommunications services are stipulated in Article 45 of Decree 163.
3. Circumstances and services requiring application for a Telecommunications License
The Vietnamese Telecommunications Laws do not specifically regulate or enumerate the cases in which an enterprise must apply for a Telecommunications License. Instead, if a telecommunications activity does not fall under the cases of exemption from a Telecommunications License, registration, or notification, and is not subject to the requirement of registration or notification of service provision, the enterprise may be required to carry out the procedure to apply for a Telecommunications License. The regulations related to Telecommunications Licenses are detailed in Chapter III of the Law on Telecommunications 2023.
Date written: 20/08/2025
Disclaimers:
This article is for general information purposes only and is not intended to provide any legal advice for any particular case. The legal provisions referenced in the content are in effect at the time of publication but may have expired at the time you read the content. We therefore advise that you always consult a professional consultant before applying any content.
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