AT&T; Seeking Restored Phone Ties to Vietnam

Frustrated by black market telephone service to Vietnam, AT&T; on Tuesday asked two congressional subcommittees for help in re-establishing telephone service that would allow U.S. residents to call the Southeast Asian country.

There has been no telephone service between the two countries since 1975, when Saigon, capital of South Vietnam, fell into Communist hands. Shortly after that, the U.S. government imposed a trade embargo against Vietnam.

If Congress grants AT&T;’s request, the move would allow the 700,000 Vietnamese residents in America--including more than 70,000 in Orange County--to communicate more easily with their native land.

Vietnam, Cambodia and North Korea are the only three countries in the world that U.S. residents cannot call directly.

Co Pham, president of the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce in Orange County, said restoring the service would benefit the local Vietnamese community by allowing cheaper and more frequent contact with relatives and friends in Vietnam.

The service could also hasten government reforms in Vietnam, said Pham, who noted the widespread poverty there that has led to frustration with the current regime.

“You can’t isolate the government there forever,” Pham said. “Allowing a direct phone service would allow information to flow more quickly to Vietnam and help the revolution go faster.”

Telephone company officials have been discussing restoring service to Vietnam for the last five to 10 years but waited to take action because Americans were still angry about the Vietnam War, AT&T; spokesman Michael Johnson said.

Time seems seems to have changed that at last, he said, and the telephone company now wants access to the market that is being served illegally by others.

“AT&T; feels a time has come when we are putting a lot of irrational feelings about the Vietnam War behind us,” Johnson said. “You get to a point where you get on with business as usual.”

Because of the embargo, U.S. residents who want to telephone Vietnam usually contact a go-between service, he said.

The process usually takes two days, according to a Westminster business owner who did not want to give his name.

The U.S. business calls a partner in a country that has direct telephone service to Vietnam, usually Canada or Australia. That partner then calls Vietnam. A third partner in Vietnam tracks down the party the U.S. resident wants to contact and has that person call America the next day.

Most Vietnamese households do not have telephones, so calls from Vietnam are frequently placed at a central post office. The partner in Vietnam monitors the call and calculates the amount to be charged to the U.S. party.

The rate is generally $8 per minute from 1 a.m. to 9 p.m. West Coast time, and $7 per minute from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., according to the businessman. The $8-per-minute charge is about twice AT&T;’s rate for calling neighboring countries, such as Thailand.

AT&T; does not know how many black market telephone services are in America, but company officials do know that such go-between services are making money from the large Vietnamese population in the United States. It is not possible to stop the black market services, and it is expensive to police them, said Johnson of AT&T.;

To resume service to Vietnam, AT&T; needs Congress to order the Federal Communications Commission to lift the telecommunications embargo. Dwight Jasmann, president and managing director of AT&T; Communications Pacific Inc., asked two U.S. House subcommittees to become involved.

Such a move would not be unprecedented. Congress has already given AT&T; permission to offer telephone service to Cuba, despite a similar U.S. embargo still in effect against that country.

The first step in lifting the telecommunications embargo against Vietnam would be for the request to be approved by the House subcommittees on Asian and Pacific affairs and on international economic policy and trade. The proposal would then move to the full House committees, which would send the proposal--if approved--to the full House. The process would be repeated in the Senate.

Once permission is granted, AT&T; should be able to begin restoration within several months, said AT&T;’s Johnson,

If AT&T; is allowed to return to Vietnam, the company will probably establish two bases--one for the northern and one for the southern region, Johnson said.

Because the country is largely made up of rural villages, the company cannot simply install phone lines and expect everyone to have telephones. AT&T; is considering using cellular telephones that runners on bicycles would bring to the home of the person receiving a call, Johnson said.