Viettel dials in first African mobile network

With the $400 million investment, Viettel now has a presence in Asia, Africa and America.

This network, according to company’s statement, represents 70 per cent of Mozambique’s fiber optic cable network and 50 per cent of the country’s mobile stations.

The system has tripled the density of Mozambique’s telecom infrastructure, increasing the length of fiber optic cable network and number of mobile stations per one million inhabitants in Mozambique by three times, making it one of the world’s fastest growing telecommunications networks and placing the country among the top three nations in Sub-Saharan Africa in terms of fiber optic cable systems.

With the strategy of “infrastructure establishment first and business comes later”, Movitel is the biggest network in Mozambique with 1,862 transmitting stations.

By the end of the year, it will increase the number of transmitting stations to 2,200.

Viettel is also the first foreign company that is committed to providing a free internet network for 4,200 schools across Mozambique.

“The Mozambican government highly appreciates Viettel’s serious investment and commitment to social responsibility. This is the first time many areas will have had access to telecom services, so the company has made a major contribution to the implementation of Mozambique’s socio-economic development and poverty reduction strategy,” said Mozambican President Armano Emilio Guebuza.

Viettel has successfully developed and popularised telecom services in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Haiti, Mozambique and Peru.

On entering new markets Viettel companies have consistently become the leading telecommunications player within just two years, contributing from one to 2 per cent to a country’s national GDP, increasing national telecom network coverage by between 50 to 80 per cent and jointly increasing telecom network density by 3 to 3.5 times more than the international average.

Many local residents can now access telecom services, including 95 per cent of people living in rural areas.

“Mozambique is Viettel’s first market in Africa. Viettel is seeking new opportunities to expand its investment in other African countries,” a Viettel representative stressed.

Viettel is one of the world’s fastest growing telecom operators, standing among the world’s top 15 telecom companies in terms of subscriber numbers.

It is investing in six countries in three continents and provides services to more than 60 million subscribers. In 2011, Viettel’s turnover was estimated at $6 billion, with an average growth rate of around 20 per cent a year.