Monday, May 08, 2006
In case you are in that neighborhood and need to call home...
Agence France Presse -- English
May 8, 2006 Monday 8:02 AM GMT
Vietnam mobile phone service to reach disputed Spratlys in June
HANOI, May 8 2006
State-owned Vietnamese mobile phone company Vinaphone is expected to launch its service in the disputed Spratly Islands next month, an official said Monday.
"Installation (of the transmitters) will be completed in May," Nguyen Huu Thuong, director of a government telecom service center based in the central province of Danang, told AFP.
"Vinaphone wants to ensure information exchange between the furthest of Vietnam's district islands and other localities," Thuong said, adding the service should start next month.
The announcement could upset other claimants to the islands -- Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan.
Except for Brunei, all the claimants maintain a military presence on the disputed archipelago of more than 100 islets, reefs and atolls, with a total land mass of less than five square kilometres (two square miles).
In January Taiwan rejected Vietnam's demand that it stop building a runway on the islands, reaffirming its claim to the archipelago but calling for a peaceful solution to the dispute.
May 8, 2006 Monday 8:02 AM GMT
Vietnam mobile phone service to reach disputed Spratlys in June
HANOI, May 8 2006
State-owned Vietnamese mobile phone company Vinaphone is expected to launch its service in the disputed Spratly Islands next month, an official said Monday.
"Installation (of the transmitters) will be completed in May," Nguyen Huu Thuong, director of a government telecom service center based in the central province of Danang, told AFP.
"Vinaphone wants to ensure information exchange between the furthest of Vietnam's district islands and other localities," Thuong said, adding the service should start next month.
The announcement could upset other claimants to the islands -- Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan.
Except for Brunei, all the claimants maintain a military presence on the disputed archipelago of more than 100 islets, reefs and atolls, with a total land mass of less than five square kilometres (two square miles).
In January Taiwan rejected Vietnam's demand that it stop building a runway on the islands, reaffirming its claim to the archipelago but calling for a peaceful solution to the dispute.
