Vietnam's Viettel seeks to double customer base in Myanmar: CEO

[Viet]

Viettel's President and CEO Le Dang Dung is seen at his office during an interview in Hanoi, Vietnam January 4, 2019. Picture taken January 4, 2019. REUTERS/Kham



HANOI: Vietnam's largest telecommunication company, Viettel, is seeking to double its five million subscribers in Myanmar by the end of the year, its president and chief executive officer Le Dang Dung told Reuters an in interview on Friday.

Viettel, whose US$1.22 billion unit Viettel Global Investment is trading on the Unlisted Public Company Market, has also shown interest in investing in North Korea and Cuba.


"The growth seen in Myanmar is rare in the telecom market," Dung told Reuters at his office in Hanoi. "We still have room to grow there".

Myanmar, where Viettel and its local partners launched a US$1.5 billion 4G network in June last year has emerged as one of the most promising markets for the company, Dung said.

The Mytel network, jointly developed by Myanmar National Holding Public Ltd and Star High Public Co Ltd, has amassed around five million subscribers, a figure which Dung said he expects to double by the end of this year.

Viettel is also in talks to buy stakes in existing telecommunication firms in Malaysia and Indonesia, Dung said, without giving further details due to the sensitivity of the deals.

The company will be the first to develop a 5G network in Vietnam, Dung said, in anticipation of rapid development of data services.

He said Viettel had earmarked US$40 million for the development of its own 5G chipset, but was also considering using technology from Ericsson and Nokia.

The military-run firm, formally known as Viettel Group, has around 60 million subscribers in Vietnam and over 30 million users across 10 other countries - predominantly in Asia and Africa.

The company is also in talks to buy a 20 percent stake in a European mobile carrier, Dung said, without elaborating.

Dung said Viettel plans to stop expanding its investment in the African market, however, where the company has struggled to make a profit due to poor economic growth.

Closer to home, Viettel is looking to invest in North Korea, said Dung, where Koryolink - a joint venture between the North Korean state and Egypt's Orascom Investment Holdings - has amassed millions of subscribers since its 2008 launch.

"We first sought permission from North Korea to build a mobile network there in 2010," he said. "But we're still waiting for sanctions to be lifted and for the country to open its market to foreign investors".

(Reporting by Khanh Vu and Kham Nguyen; Editing by James Pearson, editing by Louise Heavens)

Source: Reuters
Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/new...to-double-myanmar-customer-base--ceo-11087646

 

[Viet]

North Korea is the new paradise for Vietnam telecom carriers

 

[Viet]

Viettel signs a cooperation with Indonesia company Telin.

@Indos

Indonesia can buy 5G technology from Vietnam

 

[Indos]

Viettel signs a cooperation with Indonesia company Telin.

@Indos

Indonesia can buy 5G technology from Vietnam


View attachment 531015

Where is the news Viet ? Please provide the link

 

[Viet]

Where is the news Viet ? Please provide the link

Viettel and Telin want to cooperate in vast areas

https://www.capacitymedia.com/articles/3822835/telin-and-viettel-sign-mou-in-bali

 

[AViet]

Viettel signs a cooperation with Indonesia company Telin.

@Indos

Indonesia can buy 5G technology from Vietnam


View attachment 531015

I believe Vietnamese engineers in general, and Viettel specialists, can be among the world's best. However, for the time-being, do not think Viettel has mastered 5G technology to sell it to another country. Even the US has no company who has 5G technology now.

 

[Aung Zaya]

good. the subscribers can easily be doubled as our mobile penetrating ratio is still low compared to that of the region. no doubt Mytel can catch MPT's 20 millions subscribers within a few year if they continue to give the current promotion programme.

 

[KAL-EL]

Good for Vietnam

 

[Viet]

good. the subscribers can easily be doubled as our mobile penetrating ratio is still low compared to that of the region. no doubt Mytel can catch MPT's 20 millions subscribers within a few year if they continue to give the current promotion programme.

What promotion program? Buy 10 get 1 Viettel phone for free?

 

[Aung Zaya]

What promotion program? Buy 10 get 1 Viettel phone for free?

not giving expensive items. but small and useful for daily life. something like 10 GB data , 240 min onnet call. u can get these items unlimited within a day by shaking the phone via their app. call price per minute is also cheaper compared with other operators. So basic and middle class are rush to get mytel even authority has to order to make a limitation in giving the promotion items something only 5 shakes a day or changing promotion items with umbrella or t shirts as they think giving too much promotion may damage fairness of the competition.

 

[Viet]

not giving expensive items. but small and useful for daily life. something like 10 GB data , 240 min onnet call. u can get these items unlimited within a day by shaking the phone via their app. call price per minute is also cheaper compared with other operators. So basic and middle class are rush to get mytel even authority has to order to make a limitation in giving the promotion items something only 5 shakes a day or changing promotion items with umbrella or t shirts as they think giving too much promotion may damage fairness of the competition.

That is interesting. Can you share news on other Vietnamese companies operating in Myanmar as FastGo and HAGL?