Viettel eyes foreign expansion plan

Viettel Global saw impressive results, with overseas revenue up 32 per cent last year

“By 2017, the combined population of Viettel Global’s markets will reach 350 million, jumping to almost triple the current figure,” said Tao Duc Thang, CEO of Viettel Global, the global investment arm of Viettel Group, adding that from now until 2020, Viettel would add two new markets to its portfolio each year.

In 2014, Viettel Global’s overseas market brought big gains for the company. Viettel Global’s overseas revenue reached $1.2 billion, up 32 per cent on year and pre-tax profit was $140 million, up 41 per cent.

Viettel’s foreign subsidiaries include Metfone in Cambodia, which brought $300 million in revenue in 2014, Unitel in Laos, Natcom in Haiti, Movitel in Mozambique with $190 million, $100 million and $180 million respectively.

Telemor which started operation in 2014 in Timor Leste, is now available to 96 per cent of the country’s population. Last September, Viettel Cameroon officially started providing services under the network name Nexttel. Nexttel is the first network provider in the country to provide 3G services. The service already boasts 1 million subscribers four months after launch.

In 2014 Viettel Global started investment in Burundi and Tanzania. Viettel Tanzania is completing infrastructure construction and is expected to start operation in 2015. Meanwhile, Lumitel, Viettel’s Burundi branch has started its operations and in the past month has welcomed 600,000 subscribers.

In January this year, Viettel Global established a telecommunications company in Myanmar with the registered capital of $1.8 billion, towards which Viettel Global put forward approximately $800 million and its foreign partners about $1 billion.

In March, Metfone, a Viettel branch in Cambodia, officially acquired the assets and telecommunication licences of Beeline Telecommunication Company, one of the largest mobile service providers in Cambodia.

According to Thang, Viettel Global has built a good global reputation. “Many countries have approached us to discuss potential agreements to develop networks, including Congo DRC, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Belarus and Ukraine,” he said.

Besides buying the licences to operate in other countries, Viettel Global is going to expand by acquiring foreign telecom companies. At the same time, the Vietnamese firm continues to develop other services in its existing markets.

“The boom of mobile applications threatens to eat into the revenue of network providers, plus there’s the pressure to upgrade to 3G then 4G which requires big investments from providers,” Thang explained.

Viettel Group recently announced the sale of a part of its stake in Viettel Global. The sale, which will increase Viettel Global’s chartered capital by VND10 trillion ($461.8 million), aims to raise funds for the firm’s foreign market expansion. Being in charge of the implementation and management of Viettel Group’s overseas projects, Viettel Global has the total chartered capital of VND12.4 trillion ($572.6 million) at present, with Viettel Group currently owning a 97.58 per cent stake.