Vietnam is deciding whether to take a harder line towards over-the-top (OTT) messaging services such as Viber, Line and Whatsapp, according to Reuters.

The country’s Prime Minister, Nguyen Tan Dung (pictured), said the government was currently deciding its policy towards such services.

State media in Vietnam said the government could even “ban” free messaging services. The reason given was such services threaten the revenues of the country’s mobile operators.

“We will lose 40-50 per cent of our revenue if all of our 40 million customers use Viber instead of traditional call and text,” said a spokesperson for Viettel Telecom, which is the country’s largest mobile operator.

It follows a recent report that Saudi Arabia had banned Viber’s service because the state found it difficult to monitor the app, a security rather than commercial concern.

The prime minister said the government planned to “build and promulgate the policies” in managing messaging apps. However the detail of what this might involve is unclear.

Jong Buhm Park, CEO of NHN Vietnam, the company behind the Line app, predicted a ban would not happen. “The government has more options, like cooperation between OTT and network providers,” he said.