Vietnamese Operators Plan Stock Floatation

Vietnam's VinaPhone and MobiFone plan to equitise and issue shares on the stock market before year's end, according to parent firm Viet Nam Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (VNPT). VinaPhone assets, in terms of user subscriptions, reached US$1.6 billion by the end of 2005, while those of MobiFone stood at about $1 billion, said VNPT. MobiFone will complete formalities to put an end to ten years of cooperation with its foreign partner in 2006 to prepare for equitisation in 2007, said Le Ngoc Minh, Director of VMS MobiFone. "MobiFone's equitisation has attracted the attention of many investors, both local and international," Minh said.

In the first two months of 2006, MobiFone added an additional 850,000 clients, raising the total number of subscribers to 4.67 million. As of January 2006, MobiFone launched some new value added services, including FunRing (ring tones for callers), which has 80,000 customers. In April, MobiFone will upgrade its FunRing service to provide for both pre-paid and post-paid subscribers. It is testing a new service providing information about missed calls when subscribers turn off their mobile phones.

MobiFone plans to be equitised before VinaPhone. Formalities for VinaPhone's equitisation have to be completed b year's end. Nevertheless, an expert said that equitisation of VinaPhone may have to wait until 2007 or later.

In another development, the Government last week issued a decision to allow Viettel Mobile - the country's third-largest mobile carrier - to equitise into a joint-stock company in order to attract external financing, announced the military-run firm.

Under the proposal, the State would retain control in the company as majority shareholder with a stake of at least 51 percent. "We are discussing a schedule for equitisation, but no date has yet been set," said Viettel Mobile deputy director Nguyen Manh Hung in an interview with Viet Nam News yesterday. The company has not yet released information on it's pre-equitisation asset valuation.

Viettel Mobile currently has 2.3 million subscribers, while VinaPhone and MobiFone have about 4 million and 3.8 million, respectively, according to the Ministry of Posts and Telematics (MPT)."

Posted to the site on 13th March 2006