Netflix is seeking a license to operate in Vietnam for the long term as the company seeks to fortify its presence in the country, according to local media reports.
In a meeting with Vietnam’s minister of information and communications Nguyen Manh Hung yesterday, Kuek Yu-Chuang, Netflix’s managing director for the Asia Pacific, said the company is committed to the Vietnamese market and will set up a local contact point for handling issues related to Netflix. The company will also consider making investments to produce Vietnamese content.
Netflix started offering services in Vietnam in 2016, but the proliferation of illegal streaming sites, local competitors, and OTT service providers from China have limited its adoption and popularity. Netflix also charges more than most other providers—at least VND 180,000 (USD 7.80) a month for Vietnamese users. Though there are no publicly available subscriber numbers, it is said to only have around 300,000 subscribers in Vietnam.
Vietnam is currently in the process of amending a decree that will potentially require foreign OTT providers to obtain a license issued by the Ministry of Information and Communications in order to provide services to Vietnamese users. All OTT providers will have to ensure that at least 30% of their content available in Vietnam are domestic programs.