Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Real estate companies havesaid that they will push marketing channels on social media and e-commercefloors instead of calling or sending text messages as a Government decree totackle spam comes into effect next month.

Experts have said the decree will contribute to blocking spammessages, emails and calls to protect the interests of citizens.

Nguyen Van Dinh, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Association ofReal Estate Brokers (VARS), said the decree will impact real estate salesefforts via telephone.

Brokers still use phone calls to send informationto potential customers and using telephones is the least expensive saleschannel, according to Dinh.

On the business side, Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaperquoted a leader of the Van Khang Phat Corporation as saying advertising throughphones was a traditional sales channel and was effective, so was usedby many companies.

"However, when the new decree is applied, sales of realestate via phone calls and text messages will have to change," he noted.

Businesses would have to promote other online advertisingchannels and e-commerce, which would probably cost more, he added.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Van Trung, a broker for the real estateportal batdongsan.com.vn, said senior professional brokers did notmarket real estate products to customers by phones but often used socialmedia and other outreach channels.

Therefore, he did not feel worried about the impact of thedecree. With older customers who rarely use the internet, Trung often meetsthem directly and finds this method more effective.

Marketing by phone was really annoying and Trung added he hadeven been called by salespeople from other real estate firms.
However, to sell products online, brokers also needed toinvest more money and effort to get results, he noted.

Government Decree 91/2020/ND-CP on the prevention ofspam messages, emails and calls will come into effect on October 1.

Under the decree, the Ministry of Information andCommunications (MIC)’s Authority of Information Security will operate a systemat the number 5656 where phone users can forward a spam text or call andlet relevant units fine the spammers.

For the first time, Vietnam will have a national list ofsubscribers who do not want to receive any advertising text messages (NationalDo not call - DNC) so users on the list won't receive spam messagesor calls. Local phone users can register their number in the list via thesystem 5656.

Advertisers, telecommunications and internet serviceproviders who make calls or send advertising text messages to phone numbers onthe list will be fined up to 100 million VND (4,300 USD) while telecommunicationcarriers who still allow calls and texts to go through will be fined from 140million VND to 170 million VND.

According to the decree, advertisers can only sendadvertising text messages if they send a copy of each text message to thesystem 5656 as well.

According to the decree, firms providing internet andtelecommunication services have to comply with the MIC’s requirements on theprevention and handling of spam./.