Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: U.S. lifts Vietnam phone ban Date: Thu, 12 Nov 92 14:51:51 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD U.S. lifts Vietnam phone ban \BY REUTERS \DT HANOI HANOI (Reuters) - The United States has eased its embargo against Vietnam by lifting a restriction blocking direct telephone links, an official from American Telephone & Telegraph Co. said yesterday. The United States allowed resumption of direct phone links in April for the first time since the Vietnam War ended in 1975, but it said U.S. telephone payments for Vietnam had to go into blocked accounts pending a full lifting of the embargo. Vietnam refused to set up direct phone links under those conditions, saying it lacked the cash to cover its own costs for U.S.-Vietnamese calls under the blocked-account system. But James Hansen, AT&T's managing director for Southeast Asia, said the U.S. Treasury Department had notified American telephone companies last week that it would now let them make telephone payments directly to Vietnam. "We think that's great," said Mr. Hansen. He said AT&T signed an agreement yesterday with Vietnam's state-run telecommunications agency, the Directorate General of Posts and Telecommunications (DGPT), to move ahead with setting up direct phone links. He signed the agreement with Dang Van Than, head of the DGPT, to open direct phone links via satellite beginning today. Mr. Than told reporters Washington's move was a sign of improving relations. While it used to be difficult to call the United States from Vietnam and virtually impossible to make calls in the opposite direction, phone calls since early this year have been transferred quickly through Tokyo or Sydney, Australia. There are not many telephones in Vietnam, and the cost of an overseas call is prohibitive to the average Vietnamese. Those who want to call abroad usually go to the post office to place calls. The direct links will allow calls to go through easier and make the lines clearer. Other smaller, private U.S. carriers were in Hanoi yesterday negotiating with DGPT to establish phone links. Nearly 1 million Vietnamese - or half of all those living abroad - reside in the United States. Frederic Chapus, president of Los Angeles-based International Communication Technologies, welcomed the move by the Treasury Department to eliminate the blocked accounts. "Things are moving very fast now," he said, referring to expectations by American businessmen that Washington would soon lift its sanctions against Hanoi. The United States imposed the embargo on North Vietnam in 1964 and extended it to a reunified Vietnam in 1975. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM