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Tag: Viettel

  • Viettel to get new chairman

    Viettel to get new chairman

    Colonel Tao Duc Thang is set to take over as chairman and CEO of military-owned telecom giant Viettel from Le Dang Dung, who retires on December 31.

    Thang, 48, who has been the deputy CEO since 2015, has an M.A. in electronics and communications and worked for Hanoi Phone Company and Hanoi Post before joining Viettel in 2005.

    He has held several key positions since, including as CEO and chairman of Viettel Global, which manages the company’s overseas businesses.

    Viettel, the country’s largest telecom company with operations in nine countries in Southeast Asia and Africa, reported pre-tax profits of VND19.9 trillion ($867.2 million) for the first half of 2021, a year-on-year increase of 3.1 percent.

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  • Viettel to get new chairman

    Viettel to get new chairman

    Colonel Tao Duc Thang is set to take over as chairman and CEO of military-owned telecom giant Viettel from Le Dang Dung, who retires on December 31.

    Thang, 48, who has been the deputy CEO since 2015, has an M.A. in electronics and communications and worked for Hanoi Phone Company and Hanoi Post before joining Viettel in 2005.

    He has held several key positions since, including as CEO and chairman of Viettel Global, which manages the company’s overseas businesses.

    Viettel, the country’s largest telecom company with operations in nine countries in Southeast Asia and Africa, reported pre-tax profits of VND19.9 trillion ($867.2 million) for the first half of 2021, a year-on-year increase of 3.1 percent.

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  • Vietnam to launch commercial 5G service in 2022

    Vietnam to launch commercial 5G service in 2022

    Vietnam is set to commercially launch 5G mobile services next year as it seeks to increase the number of internet users by reducing the number of 2G smartphones to under 5 percent.

    The Ministry of Information and Communications reported at a meeting Wednesday that the service will be operated with made-in-Vietnam devices. The country aims to have 25 percent of the population using 5G by 2025, it said.

    The government had earlier announced its intention launch 5G commercially last year but the service is still on trial. Some radio frequencies have been dedicated and 5G services are being tested in 16 localities since last year.

    4G services currently cover 99.8 percent of the country.

    State-owned telecom giant Viettel said it has completed research and development work of 5G services. It also said it has successfully run a complete network of 5G services this month.

    The communications ministry has said wants more people to switch to 4G and 5G technology by the end of next year.

    It plans to have 5 percent or less of the population using 2G phones by the end of next year and to shut down 2G services by 2023.

    “This means that by 2023, 100 percent of Vietnamese will be ready to use internet,” the ministry said.

    As of last year, Vietnam had 24 million 2G subscribers.

  • Viettel shrugs off Covid, remains profitable

    Viettel shrugs off Covid, remains profitable

    Telecom giant Viettel reported pre-tax profits of VND 19.9 trillion ($867.2 million) for the first half of 2021, a year-on-year increase of 3.1 percent.

    The growth came despite the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak, which has forced 95 percent of its HCMC-based points of sale and 80 percent in Hanoi to suspend operations, and the number of mobile subscribers and telecom use declined.

    The military-owned firm continued to work on digital transformation and sought to maximize online channels, and as a result achieved revenues of VND128.6 trillion in the first half, a 6.8 percent rise.

    In all its foreign markets, Viettel increased market share, with the biggest increases seen in Haiti and Peru with 1.5 and 1.4 percentage points.

    Its four leading foreign markets remain Cambodia, Laos, East Timor, and Burundi, while in Myanmar, it closes to the top with a 30.8 percent share.

    Viettel has used technology for combating the Covid-19 pandemic by launching a vaccination management platform and installing 7,500 cameras in quarantine facilities.

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  • Viettel leaps 32 places in global brand ranking

    Viettel leaps 32 places in global brand ranking

    Vietnam’s largest telecommunication service provider Viettel has climbed 32 positions to rank 325th most valuable brand in the world in 2021.

    Currently valued at $6.01 billion, up 3.4 percent from the previous year, Viettel is the only telecom brand in Southeast Asia to break into the global ranking compiled by Brand Finance, a London-based branded business valuation consultancy.

    The military-owned firm reported revenues of VND264 trillion ($11.47 billion) last year, up 4.4 percent from 2019, and a pre-tax profit of VND39.8 trillion, up 4.1 percent.

    Viettel attributed the results to digital transformation and its switch from being a telecom services provider to a digital services provider. In 2020, the platforms it developed included digital infrastructure, solutions, content, finance, and cybersecurity.

    By manufacturing 5G equipment and trialing 5G services, the company made Vietnam one of only six countries in the world to master the technology.

    The Brand Finance Global 500 list covers 20 sectors in 29 markets, using a sample size of 55,000 adults over 18 years old.

    There are just 34 telecom companies in the 2021 listing of the world’s top 500 brands by value. Most of them saw their values fall last year.

  • Viettel profits grow despite pandemic

    Viettel profits grow despite pandemic

    Telecom giant Viettel managed to shrug off the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and achieve its revenue and profit targets in 2020.

    The military-owned firm reported revenues of VND264 trillion ($11.47 billion), up 4.4 percent from 2019, and pre-tax profit of VND39.8 trillion, up 4.1 percent.

    Viettel attributed the results to its digital transformation and switch from being a telecom services provider to a digital services provider. In 2020, the platforms it developed included digital infrastructure, solutions, content, and finance, and cybersecurity.

    Its 10 overseas markets reported a 25 percent increase in profits to VND5.6 trillion in the first nine months of 2020, while at home it remained the leader in mobile services and fixed broadband with a 54.2 percent market share.

    By manufacturing 5G equipment and trialing 5G services, the company made Vietnam one of only six countries in the world to master the technology.

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  • Viettel revamps as it eyes to enter Cuba

    Viettel revamps as it eyes to enter Cuba

    Viettel Group, Vietnam’s largest mobile network operator, which is wholly owned and operated by the Ministry of Defense, has plans to expand to sister socialist countries Cuba and North Korea, both of which are in the early stages of building up mobile phone networks. Earlier plans to expand to Venezuela have been put on hold owing to the dismal economic state of the latter nation.

    According to Viettel executives, the company is seeking to hold negotiations with the two countries in order to gain a foothold in their underdeveloped wireless markets.

    In Cuba, the company is waiting for a decision by Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba, the state-owned telecom provider and operator of the sole mobile network Cubacel whether it would grant Viettel a license.

    In North Korea, where Koryolink, a joint venture between the North Korean state and Egypt’s Orascom Investment Holdings, has reached millions of subscribers since its 2008 launch, Viettel had sought permission to build a mobile network as early as in 2010 but is still waiting for sanctions to be lifted and for the country to open its market to foreign investors.

    Viettel in its international expansion has set sights on a number of otherwise overlooked destinations. It began its global expansion by setting up a joint venture in Laos in 2008 and became the largest mobile phone operator in Cambodia after launching operations there in 2009. Since that time Viettel has expanded its operations to Burundi, Cameroon, East Timor, Haiti, Mozambique, Peru, Tanzania and eventually Myanmar.

    Between 2015 and 2017, the company invested over $2.23 billion or its foreign expansion strategy and by 2017, Viettel’s international operations covered an area of more 350 million potential subscribers. The company has invested in heavily in infrastructure in Myanmar where it is seeking to double its five million-subscriber base by the end of this year.

    The company has said that it will stop investment in the African market where the company has struggled to make a profit due to poor economic growth. According to telecommunications industry insiders, Viettel is in talks to buy stakes in existing telecommunication firms in Indonesia and Malaysia and a 20% stake in an unnamed European mobile carrier. Plans are to expand further in Bangladesh, Nepal, Belarus and Ukraine in the near future.

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  • Viettel, MobiFone licensed to commercially test 5G

    Viettel, MobiFone licensed to commercially test 5G

    Telecom giants Viettel and Mobifone have received licenses to commercially test 5G broadcast in Vietnam’s two largest cities.

    Military-owned Viettel has been allowed to test in Hanoi with a maximum of 140 base transceiver stations while state company MobiFone can do so in Ho Chi Minh City with 50 stations.

    The tests will help the companies evaluate their technology and market size before beginning commercial operations.

    The companies need to follow cybersecurity safety and privacy regulations while running the tests, the ministry said.

    The first 5G phone call in the country was made on January 17 using equipment manufactured by Viettel, which has been conducting non-commercial tests and installing equipment since last year.

    The number of 5G subscriptions could hit 6.3 million by 2025 or 6 percent of total mobile subscriptions, technology conglomerate Cisco has forecast.

    5G is said to offer speeds 100 times faster than 4G and support new applications like remote medical procedures and autonomous driving.

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  • Viettel used fake accounts to discredit rivals

    Viettel used fake accounts to discredit rivals

    Facebook has removed a network of accounts and pages linked to Vietnamese telecom giant Viettel for allegedly using disinformation tactics to discredit rivals.

    The social network behemoth said Wednesday it had removed 13 accounts and 10 pages linked to Vietnam’s biggest telecom provider Viettel and its Myanmar venture Mytel for “violating” its “policy against coordinated inauthentic behavior”.

    The move marks the first time Facebook has taken action against businesses for directly using disinformation against competitors.

    Facebook said the individuals behind the network used fake accounts to manage pages posing as independent telecom consumer news hubs. They posed as customers to criticize their rivals, it stated in a release.

    “The page admins and account owners typically shared content in English and Burmese about alleged business failures and planned market exit of some service providers in Myanmar and their alleged fraudulent activity against their customers.”

    The world’s largest social media platform also noted that although the people behind these activities, which originated from Myanmar and Vietnam, attempted to conceal their identities and coordination, its investigation found links to Mytel in Myanmar and Viettel in Vietnam.

    Viettel owns a 49 percent stake in Mytel.

    The controversial pages have around 256,600 followers, and admins have paid around $1.15 million for ads on Facebook in U.S. dollars and Vietnamese dong, it added.

    Military-run Viettel said in a statement Friday that as a company with a presence in 11 countries, it always complies with the laws and business ethics in each market.

    The company is verifying the allegation and is willing to cooperate with Facebook. It will punish anyone guilty of misconduct, Viettel said.

    The company added it supports Facebook’s efforts to clean up the social network environment and expects the latter to function in a cooperative manner to avoid making unilateral allegations.

    Viettel’s revenue last year rose 7.5 percent year-on-year to $251 trillion ($10.78 billion), accounting for 50 percent of Vietnam’s telecom revenues. The company eyes to commercially launch 5G services in June using its own equipment.

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  • Viettel soars in global valuable brand ranking

    Viettel soars in global valuable brand ranking

    Vietnam’s largest telecommunication service provider Viettel has climbed 126 positions to be ranked 355th most valuable brand in the world in 2020.

    Currently valued at VND134.9 trillion ($5.8 billion), up 34 percent compared to 2019, Viettel was placed 102nd in Asia, and 7th in Southeast Asia, according to Brand Finance, a London-based branded business valuation consultancy.

    The company saw its consolidated revenues increase by 7.4 percent in 2019 over 2018, and it currently occupies 53 percent of Vietnam’s mobile network market.

    Viettel successfully operated 5G phone calls on self-developed equipment on January 17, and is expected to commercially launch 5G services this June. It plans to expand its operations both within Vietnam as well as in 10 foreign markets.

    There are just 36 telecom companies in the 2020 listing of the world’s top 500 brands by value. Most of the  36 branks saw their values fall. Over the past five years, the combined value of all telecom brands in the Brand Finance Global 500 listing has fallen slightly, reaching $558.4 billion in 2020, compared to $567.7 billion in 2015.

    The Brand Finance Global 500 list covers 10 sectors in 29 markets, using a sample size of 50,000 adults over 18 years old. For the latest ranking, surveys were conducted online from September to December 2019.

  • Viettel, VinSmart get approval for factories in Hanoi

    Viettel, VinSmart get approval for factories in Hanoi

    The government has approved the construction of two new factories in Hanoi by state telecom giant Viettel and private smartphone producer VinSmart.

    Viettel will build a 9.1-hectare plant at the Hoa Lac High-Tech Park on the city’s outskirts to test and manufacture high-tech equipment and a 13.2-hectare research center for defense products, electronic and telecom equipment, network infrastructure, and 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies.

    Viettel will also coordinate with the park’s management board to trial applications for smart cities related to issues like environmental management, urban lighting and smart parking.

    VinSmart, the electronics arm of Vietnam’s biggest private conglomerate, Vingroup, will build a 4.8-ha smart electronics plant which is likely to have a capacity of 125 million devices a year in its first phase.

    Their completion dates are not known.

    Viettel and VinSmart’s plants are two of four new projects worth VND7.46 trillion ($320.42 million) that have been approved at the park, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology.

    The others are by two private companies to produce drugs and radiation-resistant plastics.

    Military-run Viettel in January became the first company in the country to receive permission to trial 5G services followed by MobiFone. It plans to launch in 2020, installed the first 5G station in Hanoi early this year and made the first 5G phone call in May.

    VinSmart was established by Vingroup in June, and produced its first smartphones within just six months. It has produced a total of eight models so far.

  • Viettel Global posts $67 mln profit

    Viettel Global posts $67 mln profit

    Viettel Global has posted pre-tax profits of VND1.55 trillion ($67.1 million) this year, after seeing losses in Jan-Sept last year.

    The turnaround has happened thanks to strong revenues in Southeast Asia. Half of the telecom giant’s VND12.4 trillion ($537.3 million) revenue in the first nine months came from Southeast Asia, which went up 24 percent year on year, followed by Africa and Latin America, according to the company’s Q3 financial report.

    Its Metfone network in Cambodia saw after-tax profits go up 91 percent to VND672 billion ($29.1 million), while that of its Natcom network in Haiti rose 28 percent to VND261 billion ($11.3 million).

    The company’s VGI stock, listed on Vietnam’s Unlisted Public Companies Market (UPCoM), had risen 140 percent to VND32,400 ($1.4) from the beginning of the year as of Thursday, marking a market cap of over VND98.6 trillion ($4.27 billion).

    Viettel Global was established in 2006 to spread military-run Viettel Group’s presence in foreign markets. It currently operates in ten markets, namely Cambodia, Laos, Timor Leste, Mozambique, Burundi, Haiti, Peru, Cameroon, Tanzania and Myanmar.

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  • Vietnamese operators to begin 5G testing as of 2019

    Vietnamese operators to begin 5G testing as of 2019

    Starting from the capital, Hanoi, the country aims to upgrade its mobile network along with the southern commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City.

    “Vietnam should be among the first nations to launch 5G services in order to move up in global telecom rankings,” said Nguyen Manh Hung, the country’s minister of Information and Communications.

    Hung, previously the chairman and general director of Viettel Group, wants to reacquire Vietnam’s rank among the top countries worldwide in terms of major exporter of 5G gear through boosting the development of local equipment. He also plans to make the licensing and approval process easier for Vietnam’s IT sector.

    Several partnerships have been made in order to facilitate the procedures: VNPT has teamed up with Nokia on 5G, while MobiFone signed an agreement with Samsung Electronics to cooperate on 4G and 5G networks earlier this year.

    In 2017, Ericsson held the first 5G demonstration in the country in partnership with the Vietnam Authority of Radio Frequency Management.

    While MobiFone and VNPT are on the list of state-owned companies slated for privatization by 2020, Viettel is to remain in government hands.

  • Viettel Global reports profit surge

    Viettel Global reports profit surge

    Telecom giant Viettel Global Investment JSC has made VND1.17 trillion ($50.5 million) in pre-tax profits after reporting a loss last year. Viettel Global, which covers overseas investments by military-run Viettel Group, had made a VND15.77 billion ($681,000) loss in the same period last year, according to the company’s audited consolidated financial statements.

    Revenues in the first six months reached VND7.9 trillion ($341 million), down 1.5 percent year-on-year, but a sharp decrease in the cost of sales improved profits, the company’s management board said.

    In the first half of the year, the company focused more on its core business of telecommunications, raised its average revenue per user (ARPU) and cut down the sale of equipment with low-profit margins. This raised the company’s operating profit margin (excluding financial income) to 35.3 percent from 26.4 percent in the same period last year.

    Revenue in Southeast Asia, especially driven by growth in the Cambodian market, accounted for 53 percent of Viettel Global’s revenue in the first six months, followed by Africa with 33 percent and South America with 14 percent.

    Viettel Global was established in 2006 to spread Viettel Group’s presence in foreign markets. It currently operates in ten markets, namely Cambodia, Laos, Timor Leste, Mozambique, Burundi, Haiti, Peru, Cameroon Tanzania and entered Myanmar last year.

    Viettel Global said it has plans to enter new markets, mainly in ASEAN.

    Viettel Global is one of the largest enterprises on Vietnam’s Unlisted Public Companies Market (UPCoM) in terms of both asset size and market capitalization. As of June 30, the company’s total assets were VND59 trillion ($2.54 billion), of which equity accounted for VND25 trillion ($1.08 billion).

  • First 5G network broadcasts in Vietnam

    First 5G network broadcasts in Vietnam

    Telecom giant Viettel broadcast its first 5G network Saturday from its network of 5G base stations in Ho Chi Minh City.

    “The official broadcast of 5G in Ho Chi Minh City is an important milestone in Viettel’s strategy to make Vietnam one of the first countries in the world to commercialize 5G services,” Viettel deputy director Tao Duc Thang said in a statement.

    The 10 stations will be used by Viettel, the nation’s largest telecom firm, to comprehensively check and assess its 5G service before launching it commercially next year.

    Military-run Viettel installed the first 5G station in Hanoi early this year and made the first 5G phone call in May. It was the first firm in the country to receive permission to trial 5G services in January, followed by MobiFone.

    Last November, Information and Communication Minister Nguyen Manh Hung said at a conference that Vietnam should test 5G in 2019 and ensure nationwide coverage by 2020.

    “Vietnam should be one of the first countries to launch the network, at least in Hanoi and HCMC,” he had said. The country had been one of the last in Southeast Asia to roll out 4G services.

    5G is said to offer speeds 100 times faster than 4G, primarily used for smartphones and other similar devices. 5G is also expected to support new applications like remote medical procedures and autonomous driving.