Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - Nearly 14 millionspam messages are frustrating phone users across the country every day despiteefforts by information and telecommunication authorities to combat them.

The figure, given out at conference oninformation and telecommunications management held by the Ministry ofInformation and Communications (MIC) at the weekend, was proof of the failureto control and prevent spam messages.

Officials and experts at the conference blamedthe issue on loose subscriber management from telecommunication serviceproviders and fragile punishment mechanisms from authorities.

“Wiping out spam messages and illegal mobilephone SIM cards is the responsibility of the service providers. If providerscannot do that, the head of the company should be fired and replaced,” saidMinister of MIC, Truong Minh Tuan at the conference.

The minister vowed to handle the situation ofspam messages, illegal SIM cards and even spam calls, stressing the role ofmobile phone companies.

“It is now time to completely wipe them out,”said the minister.

Tuan said spam phone calls were also spreadingat an alarming rate without any intervention from mobile phone networkproviders causing annoyance to users.

He himself was a sufferer of this problem,saying that in just one day, he had received three spam calls, all related toadvertising.

The MIC minister suggested a promotionalprogramme to boost the use of post-charged subscribers in the near future.

Discussing measures to undertake, particularlytasks of provincial departments of information and communications, Le Quoc Cuong,Deputy Director of the HCM City Department of Information and Communicationssupported MIC and Minister Tuan for his determination to combat the issue.

Cuong revealed the role of preventing thisproblem was not only focused on authorities but also the subscriptionproviders.

He cited HCM City as an example, saying thatcurrently the city has a total of 13 million citizens, most of them with atleast one SIM card, so it was extremely hard for the city department toinvestigate or examine the surge of spam messages spreading across the city.

“It was hard because subscriber serviceproviders in the city do not provide authorities with adequate figures anddetails of their customers. The companies that provide mobile phone services donot give out specific information about their handling of the violations,including details of customers that used illegal SIM cards to spread spam messages,”said Cuong.

Thus, the official said, the main and mosteffective solution should come from the subscription providers and mobile phoneservice companies who need to be tougher and more transparent in theiroperations.

“Telecommunications businesses need to be"squeezed" and there must be clearer mechanisms, and closerco-ordination between business and authorities in controlling the spread ofspam messages and the use of illegal SIM cards,” according to Cuong.

Meanwhile, another representative from Da NangCity’s Department of Information and Communications, who did not want to give aname, said one could buy a SIM card without original certification anywhere inthe city.

"This was unacceptable", said theofficial.

That was proof of loose management andirresponsibility of the providers, particularly towards national security, theofficial said, adding that this also caused problems for the national telephonenumber sources as well.

According to the Vietnam Computer EmergencyResponse Team (VNCERT) in 2016, it received nearly 600,000 complaints aboutspam messages, most of them were ads, via the 456 channel alone. Of these, 35percent were about telecommunication services, 20 percent about real estate and13 percent about ads for SIM cards with rare telephone numbers.

A report from MIC revealed about 2 millionsubscribers had been found active on the distribution channel but without anyuser information.

As of December 22 this year, about 15 millionvirtual mobile phone subscribers accounts had been locked, the report said.

The virtual subscribers were the major sourcesof spam messages, and organisations and individuals had used such SIM accountsto spread their ads, according to the report. - VNA