Local telecom firms nurture big foreign ambitions

In 2011, military-run Viettel Telecom Group intended to grow its presence in foreign markets in which it won operational licences through establishing additionally 4,000 base transceiver stations and step up investments in potential markets in Asia, Africa and Latino America with around 100 million residents.  

Viettel recently won a business contract to build up a telecom network infrastructure worth $400 million within the next decade in Peru.

A Viettel executive said the firm’s tactic in penetrating foreign markets was to launch big investments to be named among top three in any foreign markets in which it set footholds within four years.

Viettel has reportedly invested in five foreign markets of Cambodia, Laos, Haiti, Peru and Mozambique. The group expects the revenue generated by foreign markets would double or triple that from local market.

In 2010, Viettel’s telecom revenue from foreign markets Cambodia and Laos exceeded $220 million, of which $161 million came from Cambodian market, up 2.8 times and around $61 million from Laotian market, up 4.5 times compared to that in 2009.

State-owned VNPT Group confirmed it would foster outbound investments in 2011 through spotlighting highly profitable services associated with broad band and mobiles. Besides, VNPT also stressed cementing ties with traditional foreign partners with a wealth of experience in market penetration and governance.

Accordingly, in 2011 VNPT will materialise a cooperative deal with the Yatanarpon Teleport Company Limited (YTP) in Myanmar to develop telecom services, build a factory manufacturing telecom equipment and supply telecom products to Myanmar market. The two sides also pledged to promote broad band services in Myanmar within this year.

Besides, VNPT pumped capital into manufacturing telecom equipment for sale to Venezuela and supported VNPT Global to establish new points of presence (POP) in Cambodia and Germany.

Unlike Viettel and VNPT which spotlight mobile and broad band services in foreign markets, the Vietnam Telecommunications Company (VTC) sets footprints globally through digital products provision.

In 2009, VTC Online, a VTC subsidiary, began tapping foreign markets through forming four subsidiaries in South Korea, Cambodia, Laos and Indonesia.

In 2010, VTC Online raked in revenue of around $5 million from these markets and expects to double the figure to $10 million in 2011. The company also opened six more branches in the US, Russia, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and China, bringing its foreign-based subsidiaries to 10.